NASHVILLE, Tenn. — — Darius Acuff Jr. scored 37 factors and No. 17 Arkansas held off Oklahoma 82-79 on Friday evening to achieve the Southeastern Conference Tournament semifinals.
The third-seeded Razorbacks (24-8) received their third straight general and can play No. 15 seed Mississippi within the semifinals after the Rebels upset No. 15 Alabama 80-79 earlier Friday evening.
Trevon Brazile added 12 factors for Arkansas. Meleek Thomas, who got here in averaging 15.4 factors, was 2-of-10 capturing and completed with eight factors.
The Razorbacks had been the final group to play at this match, whereas this was Oklahoma’s third recreation in as many nights. The recreation featured 16 lead adjustments and 11 ties, and Acuff, the SEC’s scoring chief and league’s player and freshman of the year, had 21 within the first half to maintain Arkansas inside 39-37 at halftime.
Neither group led by greater than 4 a lot of the second half, and Dayton Forsythe‘s layup tied it for the final time at 67 with 5:38 left. Malique Ewin‘s dunk put Arkansas forward to stick with 5:17 left. The Razorbacks scored 9 of the following 11, and Acuff’s 3 with 2:27 remaining gave them their greatest lead at 76-69.
The Sooners had a closing likelihood after Acuff missed a second free throw with 10 seconds left. Nijel Pack‘s 3 missed and Arkansas bought the ball with 0.6 seconds remaining.
No. 11 seed Oklahoma (19-15) wanted an upset on this recreation to strengthen its NCAA Tournament resume after dropping 9 straight early in league play. The Sooners’ six-game successful streak was snapped.
Pack led the Sooners with 19 factors, Derrion Reid and Tae Davis every had 17 and Mohamed Wague had 13.
Oklahoma now should wait and hope successful eight of 10 earlier than this loss was sufficient for a thirty fifth all-time NCAA berth.
Arkansas reached its seventeenth semifinal on this match.
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