West Virginia’s rally comes up short vs. Arkansas in SEC/Big 12 Challenge
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FAYETTEVILLE, Ark. — Pitt transfer Au’Diese Toney scored 19 points, and Arkansas never trailed to win its sixth straight, beating West Virginia in an SEC/Big 12 Challenge game, 77-68, on Saturday.
Arkansas is 4-4 in the challenge series, going 4-0 at home and 0-4 on the road. The Razorbacks are 2-0 against West Virginia, winning their first meeting 71-64 on Nov. 26, 2006 to win the Old Spice Championship.
The Razorbacks (16-5) led by as many as 19 points in the second half after JD Notae’s layup with 16 minutes, 6 seconds to play, but West Virginia rallied, getting within five points after a 13-0 run capped by a Jalen Bridges layup with 12:24 to make it 54-49.
Toney answered with five straight points to push the Razorbacks’ lead back to double digits, and Jaylin Williams added a three-point play to make it an 8-0 run for a 62-49 advantage. The Mountaineers (13-7) got within 68-62 on Sean McNeil’s 3-pointer with 4:44 left, but Arkansas again pushed its lead back to double digits until Taz Sherman’s layup with 24 seconds left got West Virginia within nine with its final points.
Kedrian Johnson, who came into the game averaging 4.5 points, led West Virginia with a season-high 18 in just his second game scoring in double digits. Sherman finished with 15 points and three steals and Malik Curry added 11 points off the bench.
Williams grabbed nine rebounds in the first half as the Razorbacks took a 38-29 lead and finished with 12 points and 15 rebounds for his fifth double-double of the season, adding two steals and a pair of blocked shots. Notae finished with 15 points, and Stanley Umude added 12 points and eight boards.
West Virginia will look to break its five-game losing streak Monday at No. 4 Baylor.