Hogs' furious rally fizzles near finish

BOB HOLT
ARKANSAS DEMOCRAT-GAZETTE

OXFORD, Miss. -- A comeback victory slipped away from Arkansas Wednesday night.
Mississippi held off a rally that saw the Razorbacks shave a 20-point deficit with 6:11 left to a point the final seconds to win 87-82 before 6,048 fans in Tad Smith Coliseum.
Arkansas senior guard Chris Walker had a shot to tie the game with 15 seconds left, but his three-point attempt fell short of the goal.
"The ball slipped out my hand," Walker said. "I was trying to make something happen, and it just slipped out of my hand."
Razorbacks Coach Nolan Richardson said Walker, Arkansas' lone senior and 42-percent shooter from three-point range, is the player he wanted to see take the crucial shot.
"He's the guy you'd want to try and make that shot to send it into overtime," Richardson said. "But the ball slipped.
"You've got to get a good shot there, and we didn't. That's the breaks of the game."
Most of the breaks went the Rebels' way as they built a 73-53 lead that appeared insurmountable with so little time left.
But the Razorbacks (11-9, 3-4 SEC) outscored the Rebels 29-10 over a 5:59 span, with eight players scoring in the run led by freshman guard Joe Johnson's five points.
Richardson called the final six minutes the best Arkansas has played this season.
"I was very proud of our kids," Richardson said. "When you're down by 20 on the road and come back to make it a one-point game ... you're not supposed to be able to do that on the road.
"If we'd had another minute to play, it might have been a different game. Or if we'd been able to tie the score."
While the Razorbacks fought back, Mississippi (14-7, 2-6) became passive, missing shots and losing the ball as the lead continued to shrink.
"We got right back to the situation where we've been playing at all year, with four or five minutes where things just didn't go right," Rebels Coach Rob Barnes said. "Fortunately for us tonight, we had a big enough lead to hang onto."
The Rebels hung on with sophomore guard Jason Harrison and junior guard Jason Flanigan, both from Little Rock Parkview, combined to hit 4 of 4 free throws in the final 19.2 seconds.
"We played hard, but we didn't play very smart," Barnes said. "Now you know why I've got ulcers."
Marcus Hicks, a 6-6 senior forward, led Mississippi with a career-high 31 points, 12 of 16 from the field and 7 of 12 from the line. He also had a game-high 10 rebounds and five of his baskets came on dunks, including two on alley-oop passes from Flanigan.
"Hicks just had a phenomenal game," Richardson said. "He's an athlete who can play basketball."
Flanigan added 12 points and seven assists for the Rebels, who beat Arkansas at Oxford for the fourth consecutive year and earned a split in this season's series after losing 71-64 at Walton Arena on Jan. 5.
Sophomore guard Teddy Gipson led Arkansas with a season-high 18 points in 27 minutes off the bench.
"We didn't give up and they let up, trying to work the clock," Gipson said of Arkansas' comeback. "When they relaxed, we took it to them."
Said Hicks, "We just got passive at the end."
Arkansas freshman Alonzo Lane, a forward from Canton, Miss., who was booed every time he touched the ball, scored 13 points Johnson added 11.
It was an intensely fought game that included:

Double technical fouls on Walker and Mississippi junior guard Jason Holmes when they became entangled battling for a loose ball;

Double fouls on Arkansas freshman forward Larry Satchell and Mississippi freshman forward Richard Kirklin;

An intentional foul on Flanigan when he fouled Arkansas sophomore guard Brandon Dean as he went in for a dunk attempt;

A technical foul on Richardson for questioning how the game was being called;
"You've got two teams that have won a whole lot of games in conference play, so they're getting after each," Richardson said. "It was a very physical game."
Mississippi opened the second half by outscoring Arkansas 25-8, including two dunks by Hicks and three-pointers by Wade and Flanigan, to take a 59-38 lead with 11:07 left before the Razorbacks began their rally.
The Razorbacks will play their third consecutive road game, and fifth in the last six games, at Auburn on Saturday.
Mississippi is open this weekend, then plays South Carolina next Wednesday at home.
Sophomore guard Jason Gilbert hit two free throws with 1:07 left in the first half to pull Arkansas within 34-29 at halftime.
Mississippi jumped to a 12-0 lead, with two baskets each by Hicks, Wade and junior forward Rahim Lockhart, as the Razorbacks missed their first six shots.
Arkansas got their first points at 14:30 of the half when Johnson hit two free throws to pull the Razorbacks within 12-2.
Mississippi pushed its lead to 21-10 on sophomore forward Darrian Brown's running jumper with 9:44 left.
Arkansas then outscored Mississippi 17-5 over a 4:32 span, including 10 points by Gipson, to take a 27-26 lead with 4:54 left in the half on Satchell's free throw. Gilbert and Dean hit three-pointers to start the Razorbacks' run.
The Rebels then scored the next eight points with the help of a technical foul called on Richardson when the Razorbacks were about to inbound the ball, to move ahead 34-27.
After Hicks had a scored on a dunk and layup to put Mississippi ahead 30-27, Richardson was called for a technical foul for questioning a call.
Flanigan hit two free throws resulting from the technical, then on the ensuing possession Hicks scored on a layup.

This article was published on Thursday, February 3, 2000

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