After a slow start, Arkansas jumped out to a big first half lead and maintained control the rest of the way before topping Troy 88-63 Saturday evening in North Little Rock’s Verizon Arena in front of 16,416 in attendance.
Arkansas took a 20-point lead over the Trojans during a 21-2 run with 4:18 left in the first half, and after that they led by no fewer than 15 points the rest of the way. The lead dropped to 15 when the Hogs hit a 5-minute and 13-second scoring drought from the end of the first half and start of the second.
Senior Daryl Macon scored 25 points just across the river from his hometown of Little Rock on 8 of 14 shooting, including 5 of 9 from 3-point range. He also dished out 5 assists and pulled down 3 rebounds in 30 minutes of action. North Little Rock native and fellow senior Anton Beard was second in scoring for Arkansas with 11 points on 5 of 10 shooting.
The Razorbacks (8-2) were 34 of 64 on field goals (53.1 percent), 8 of 23 from downtown (34.8 percent) and 12 of 19 from the free throw line (63.2 percent). Arkansas out-rebounded the Trojans 42-35, won the turnover battle 10-6, won off the bench 33-12 and outscored Troy in the paint 50-16.
Wesley Person led Troy (5-6) with 25 points but was only 5 of 15 shooting (4 of 11 from beyond the arc and 11 of 13 from the free throw line). The Trojans were just 18 of 59 as a team (30.5 percent), including 8 of 29 from 3-point range (27.6 percent) and 19 of 25 from the line (76 percent).
SECOND HALF RUNDOWN
After failing to make a single field goal for 8 minutes, the Trojans found themselves in a 45-25 deficit at halftime. Troy scored the first five points of the second half to trim the lead to 15 points, 45-30, with 16:42 to play, but that is as close as it got.
Arkansas did not get on the board in the second half until Trey Thompson put one in off the glass with 16:36 to play. With the Hogs not scoring the final 1:49 of the first half, they had gone scoreless for 5 minutes and 13 seconds.
Starting with Thompson’s bucket and ending in a dunk, Arkansas scored the next 6 points to go back up by 21, 51-30, with 15:44 to go. The Trojans never took the lead down below 17 points the rest of the way.
With 4:45 remaining, Macon hit his fifth 3-pointer of the night to give him 25 points for the game. That bucket gave the Razorbacks a 20-point lead.
FIRST HALF RUNDOWN
After falling behind 8-2 just a minute and 13 seconds into the game, Arkansas raced back to score 13-straight to take a 15-8 lead over a span of 2 minutes and 31 seconds with 14:40 to play in the first half. A layup by Macon with 13:19 left gave him 10 points for the game and moved the Hogs ahead 20-10.
Then Troy scored on 3 shots from beyond the arc to take a 9-0 run and close the lead to a single point, 20-19, with 11:04 remaining in the half.
Then over a span of 6 minutes and 19 seconds, Arkansas outscored Troy 21-2 to take a 41-21 lead. The Hogs held Troy scoreless for 4 minutes and 29 seconds until Davis made a free throw to make it 41-22. A put-back by Hicks with 47 seconds left ended a scoreless drought from the floor for Troy over a span of exactly 8 minutes.
The Hogs led by as many as 22 points with 1:50 remaining (45-23) but took a 20-piont lead into half time, 45-25.
UP NEXT
Up next, Arkansas faces Oral Roberts (4-9) at 7 p.m. on Tuesday in Bud Walton Arena.
