Hannahs, Bell sizzle in Hogs’ 93-75 rout

FAYETTEVILLE - Coming off Wednesday’s loss to Akron at Walton Arena and with two tough games likely next week in Brooklyn, N.Y., the Arkansas Razorbacks got a confidence-building victory Friday night at Walton Arena.

Coming off an 88-80 defeat in which they never led, the Razorbacks blitzed Charleston Southern with a 49-32 first half and breezed to a 93-75 triumph in the NIT Tip-Off second round.

Three-point shooting of Dusty Hannahs and Anthlon Bell, plus a career-high 11 assists by Jabril Durham, helped Arkansas improve to 2-1 before facing Georgia Tech on Thursday at Barclays Center in Brooklyn, where the Hogs face Stanford or Villanova the next day.

Charleston Southern, last year’s Big South Conference champion, fell to 1-3.

Hannahs, scoring 14 first-half points off the bench, finished with 21. Center Moses Kingsley added 15, starting guard and reserve guard Manny Watkins 14 each and Bell 12.

Charleston Southern Potter scored 20.

A 1-0 lead and a 4-4 tie amounted to the best the Buccaneers could do in the first half.

The Hogs were up only 7-6 when Bell rang his first three jumping the Hogs to a 10-6 lead that became 16-6 on two Hannahs free throws at 14:04.

A Hannahs trey at 10:32 put the Hogs ahead 26-11.

Consecutive Watkins baskets, the second on a steal and nifty breakaway move around the defender in front of him, peaked Arkansas’ first-half lead, 43-23 at 4:04.

Charleston

guard Armel

Southern

guard

Raemond Robinson hit consecutive threes but could get his team no closer than 14.

Hannahs and Potter swapped threes before Durham’s one of two free throws and Bell’s three-point jumper finished the half with Arkansas up 49-32.

Both teams shot well first-half well from afar. The Buccaneers hit 7 of 18 three-point attempt while Hannahs and Bell connected six of the eight first-half threes that Arkansas attempted.

On a conventional foul-inducing three -point play, Buccaneers center Wesley Johnson scored the first points of the second half at 19:42.

By 17:35, a Kingsley field goal upped the Hogs to 55-35 towards peaking their advantage to 24 before the 93-75 final score.

IN YOUR FACE: Arkansas’ Jabril Durham (4) shoots a basket over Charleston Southern’s Armel Potter (1) in the first half of the Razorbacks’ 93-75 victory Friday night at Walton Arena in Fayetteville. The 2-1 Hogs return to action Thursday against...