Billy Richmond III scored 23 points, Darius Acuff Jr. posted 17 of his 22 points in the last nine minutes, and No. 20 Arkansas moved closer to a double bye in the Southeastern Conference tournament with a 99-84 victory over Texas A&M on Wednesday in Fayetteville, Ark.
Malique Ewin had 18 points and nine rebounds and Trevon Brazile added 14 points and eight rebounds for the Razorbacks (21-7, 11-4 SEC), who are 15-1 at home.
Acuff had seven assists and five rebounds as Richmond logged his fourth straight 20-point game. The Razorbacks have won five of their past six contests.
Reserve Zach Clemence rang up 22 of his career-high 29 points in the second half and Rashaun Agee had 17 points for the Aggies (19-9, 9-6), who trimmed a 17-point deficit to four with 11 minutes remaining before the Razorbacks regained command.
Arkansas made 13 consecutive field goals to pull away down the stretch and wound up 20 of 29 (69%) in the second half.
The Razorbacks made 29 of 33 free throws while the Aggies went 16 of 23. Richmond and Ewin were 6 of 6 and Acuff was 7 of 9.
D.J. Wagner’s layup gave Arkansas a 52-35 lead five minutes into the second half before Texas A&M crept back. Rylan Griffen’s 3-pointer cut the Razorbacks’ lead to 59-55 with 10:54 remaining.
Acuff hit a jumper, Meleek Thomas sank a 3-pointer and Acuff assisted on a Ewin dunk and made another jumper to push the Razorbacks’ lead to 76-64 with 7:18 left. The Aggies never were closer than nine the rest of the way.
Arkansas is two games ahead of a four-team pack in fifth place in the SEC with three games to play. The top four teams in the regular season earn a double bye in the tourney.
The Razorbacks will play SEC leader No. 7 Florida (22-6, 13-2) in Gainesville, Fla., on Saturday. The same day, the Aggies will oppose Texas (17-11, 8-7).
Agee had a 3-pointer and a dunk as Texas A&M scored 11 of the first 13 points, but Arkansas countered with a 16-0 run that included nine points from Richmond to take an 18-11 lead they never lost.
The gap grew as large as 15 before Texas A&M scored the final six points of the half to trail 37-28.
–Field Level Media
