COLLEGE MEN : Clinging to victory
Posted on Friday, November 21, 2008
FAYETTEVILLE — Nothing figures to come easy for Arkansas this season.
The Razorbacks lost most of a 17-point lead they built in the first half, but hung on to beat California-Davis 68-59 on Thursday night in Walton Arena before an estimated 11, 600 fans.
Arkansas (2-0 ) had to rally to beat Southeastern Louisiana 91-87 in overtime in the opener last week.
“We’re just coming out here to play and win,” said Razorbacks junior guard Stefan Welsh, who had 14 points. “It doesn’t matter what the margin of victory is, a ‘W’ is a ‘W’ in our book.
“ We just want to keep tallying them up.”
Arkansas was 1 of 13 on threepoint attempts and got just eight points off fast breaks, but it pounded the ball inside to beat down the Aggies (1-3 ).
“We’d love to run around with our hair on fire and get on the break 30 times and be athletic and get a great pace to the game,” Razorbacks Coach John Pelphrey said. “But sometimes you have to make adjustments. We had to grind and change.”
Arkansas outscored UC-Davis 40-16 on points in the lane, and the Razorbacks’ first 13 baskets came on dunks, layups or tipins.
“We have a lot of versatility,” Welsh said. “If the threes aren’t falling, we can score in other ways. It was just a total team effort.”
Freshman point guard Courtney Fortson, who hit the Razorbacks’ only three-point basket, had a team-high 16 points. Welsh added 14 points, freshman forward Michael Sanchez had 12 points and 12 rebounds, junior forward Michael Washington had 11 points and freshman guard Rotnei Clarke had nine points.
“The good thing about this team is that we can play fast, but we also showed tonight that we can slow it down,” Welsh said. “They did a good job of trying to control the pace, but we did a great job of executing our offense in the half court.”
Sanchez, who redshirted last season, got two dunks early in the game on assists by Welsh to help Arkansas take a 33-16 lead.
“We definitely got a lot of great looks,” Sanchez said. “It wasn’t off the first or second pass. It was off the third or fourth.”
UC-Davis, which got 16 points from sophomore guard and Notre Dame transfer Joe Harden, pulled within 36-27 at halftime.
Fortson’s driving basket put Arkansas ahead 44-29 with 17: 06 left.
Pelphrey then picked up his first technical foul of the season — and seventh in 37 games with the Razorbacks — when he protested a foul call against Washington on a three-point attempt by Harden.
The Aggies hit five consecutive free throws — two by Vince Oliver and three by Harden — to cut their deficit to 44-37.
It was a Class A technical on Pelphrey called by official Mike Nance. This season the NCAA has divided technicals into Class A and B, with the Class A being more serious, such as a coach yelling at an official.
“That probably wasn’t the best time to get a technical, but we were able to overcome it,” Pelphrey said. “I think I was being demonstrative again, but as technical fouls go, it was probably pretty harmless.”
UC-Davis drew as close as 48-44 on Dominic Calgegari’s threepoint basket with 13: 12 left.
“We just kept climbing up the mountain and climbing up the mountain,” Aggies Coach Gary Stewart said.
UC-Davis couldn’t get over the top, missing three-pointers on three consecutive possessions when Arkansas was clinging to a 64-57 lead.
The Aggies shot 32. 7 percent from the field, hitting 18 of 55 attempts.
“We hurried some opportunities,” Stewart said. “Some other opportunities I felt like their defense really made the difference.”
Pelphrey praised his team for playing sound defense against the Aggies’ motion offense and limiting their cuts to the basket. He also said he was pleased by the Razorbacks’ patience on offense.
“We stayed positive,” Fortson said. “We listened to Coach and pulled it out.”
With UC-Davis guarding the three-point line well, Pelphrey liked how the Razorbacks took advantage of the open space for drives and getting the ball inside.
“Tonight our perimeter shooting wasn’t there,” Pelphrey said. “But we found some other ways to get it in the basket.”
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