FAYETTEVILLE -- Several times poised on the verge of running the LSU Tigers off the court, the Arkansas Razorbacks almost ran out of gas, losing a 17-point lead to six at 2:30 then refueled the final 2:03 behind Jaylen Barford's reverse layup to complete a 99-86 SEC victory Saturday night before 16,333 at Walton Arena.
Senior center Moses Kingsley, fatigue showing as he missed four free throws when LSU clawed back in it but a beast most of the night, led Arkansas with 24 points while Arkansas guards Anton Beard of North Little Rock, Daryl Macon of Little Rock Parkview and Dusty Hannahs of Little Rock and Pulaski Academy scored 16, 15 and 14.
Kingsley's 24 marked a season high and reached the Razorbacks' 1,000-points club for his career.
"It feels very, very good to do it in front of the home crowd," Kingsley said. "I give credit to my teammate for getting me the ball that everybody in the program has confidence in me."
Arkansas Coach Mike Anderson marveled that Kingsley's 1,000 points "basically took only two years" since he played little the first two years behind former Arkansas SEC Player of the Year Bobby Portis.
Beard, who had seven assists without a turnover in 34 minutes, marveled at the crowd, particularly as LSU fought back near the finish.
"We weren't playing enough defense, and we have to give a shout to the crowd and the student body," Beard said. "We needed that little push when they cut it to six. We had to get stops and that's what we did."
Skylar Mays led LSU with 22 followed by Duop Reath's 17 and Brandon Sampson's 15.
Held to just two points in the first half but LSU's leading scorer on the season, sophomore guard Antonio Blakeney scored 12 second-half points igniting the surges that ultimately proved too little too late for the Tigers.
Anderson credited the Tigers talent and spunk but said his Razorbacks must play the defense shown in their victory last Tuesday at Texas A&M over their performance Saturday.
The Razorbacks improve to 15-4 overall and for the first time are above .500 in the SEC, 4-3 going into Tuesday night's SEC game at Vanderbilt.
Coach Johnny Jones' Tigers, 9-9 overall, lost their fifth consecutive game falling to 1-6 in the SEC.
"We really got it going in the open floor," Jones said. "But the offensive end hasn't been our problem. It's the other end. And we missed 15 free throws (15 of 30) tonight."
The game's frenetic pace caused fatigue affecting both team's free throws, Anderson said, noting the Hogs sank 11 of 11 in the first half but finished 25 of 35, missing key ones when they could have put the game away earlier than they did.
Jones praised Kingsley and Beard.
"Moses is a very good player, very talented, can score in the post area and step up and shoot it," Jones said. "You can't let him get comfortable, and we did. Beard is always poised under pressure and makes the right plays. That's the leadership he shows for this team."
The Hogs needed all their guards up a notch as defensive stalwart off the bench guard Manny Watkins played only two minutes because of illness while forward Dustin Thomas was withheld from the first half for violating a team rule, Anderson said.
From Macon scoring the game's first points with a 3-pointer at 18:56, the Razorbacks led the first half finishing up 47-37 after peaking at up 13.
Three-point flurries by Beard, on two threes and a barely shot-clock beating deuce inside, and Hannahs on an and-one 3-point play plus a 3-pointer gave Arkansas its first 11-point lead, 21-11 at 11:42.
Kingsley's dunk off a Macon pass peaked the lead 30-17 at 7:59.
LSU refused to wilt, cutting it to 43-37 before Arkansas scored the half's final four points on Beard sinking both ends of a one-and-one with 51 seconds left and reserve freshman forward Adrio Bailey snagging a rebound on the LSU end and firing a baseball pass for Beard to score on the other end.
Arkansas held Blakeney to just two first-half points as freshman guard Skylar Mays kept the Tigers in it, scoring 14 by intermission.
Between them, Kingsley with 14, Beard 12, Hannahs 11 and Macon 8, scored 45 of Arkansas' 47 first-half points.
Arkansas shot a blistering 56 percent (15 of 27) in the first half including 6 of 12 treys.
Arkansas's 6-0 run to start the second half took the Tigers out of their hang-around mode for awhile.
However by 9:55 the Tigers cut it to 10 and finally to nine, 78-69 at 7:50 on Jailyn Patterson's second consecutive basket.
Six straight points, two by Kingsley and four by Arlando Cook, got Arkansas up into double digits before the Tigers roared again to down 91-85 at 3:34 and again down six, 92-86 at 2:30 before Arkansas' Barford sealed the deal that Arkansas nailed on the boards, 44-30, winning the rebounding every game of their now 3-game winning streak including shocking SEC rebounding leader Texas A&M.
"When we went to A&M and outrebounded one of the best rebounding teams in the country, we know we can do it with anybody," Kingsley said.
Sports on 01/23/2017