Dawgs Edge Hogs
By Danny Bishop
BASKETBALL
Trey Thompkins scored all 12 of his points in the second half – including the game-winning free throw with 1.4 seconds left – to lift the Georgia men’s basketball team to a 60-59 win over Arkansas Wednesday night in Bud Walton Arena.
After Arkansas tied the game at 59 on a lay-up for Julysses Nobles, Thompkins put up an attempt down the other end and was fouled. The junior made the first of two from the line and it was enough as the Dawgs improved to 15-6 and 4-4 in SEC play. The Razorbacks fall to 14-7 (4-4) with their first home loss of the season.
With the win tonight Georgia avoided losing three straight games for the first time in 2010-11. Georgia – which was led on the night by 14 points from Gerald Robinson – has now played eight games decided by three or fewer points this season, and is 7-1 in those games.
“It was an ugly game early, and one of those typical February conference games where both teams understood how the other was trying to play,” said head coach Mark Fox. “It was nothing pretty. It was a grind-out game, but fortunately for us we could hang around long enough until we finally found an offensive rhythm and built the lead. Then you play from in front. Arkansas was able to tie it several times but we never fell back behind and I am really proud of our effort.”
Snow in Fayetteville prevented the Georgia team from arriving until earlier today and the Dawgs took some time to find their rhythm, starting the day on just a 4-of-20 shooting clip. But Georgia used a late spurt to close the first half down just three, 25-22, at the break after going down by as many as nine in the opening period.
It didn’t take long for the Dawgs to tie it coming out of the locker room, as Thompkins hit a pair of jumpers in the first minute of the second half to give Georgia its first lead of the night at 26-25 with just 50 seconds elapsed.
After the Razorbacks tied things back up at 30, Georgia put in seven straight points to go up by its largest margin of the night of 37-30 with 12:44 left. It was knotted again – one of eight second-half stalemates – at 41-41 with just under 10 remaining before the Dawgs used another mini-run to take a five-point lead, 46-41, on a three from Dustin Ware and a jumper for Jeremy Price.
Thompkins gave the Dawgs a six-point cushion at 59-53 with 3:49 to play in the game on a three-pointer from the side, but the Razorbacks again came back to tie it with six straight points culminating with Nobles’ lay-up that made it 59 all with just 27 seconds left.
That set up the last sequence for Thompkins, as he took the final shot and was fouled with under two ticks on the clock. The junior made the first and missed the second, and Arkansas grabbed the defensive rebound but didn’t have time to run it back the other way as the Dawgs held on for the road win.
The Razorbacks were led on the night by Marshawn Powell’s 16 points as he was the only Arkansas player to find double figures. Georgia got 11 from Price as he joined Robinson and Thompkins there.
Georgia corrected its first-half shooting woes after the break, going from 29 percent from the floor in the first to 52 percent in the second. The Dawgs won the rebounding battle by a count of 43-28, including a staggering 15-5 in the offensive column.
Tonight marked just the 28th all-time meeting between the Dawgs and Hogs, with Arkansas holding a 16-12 lead in the series.