Jalen Graham scored 16 points off the bench as Arkansas held off South Carolina 65-63 and stretched its SEC winning streak to four games with a thrilling road victory over the Gamecocks on Saturday afternoon in Columbia, S.C.
The Razorbacks (16-7, 5-5 SEC) have won four of their last five overall and handed the Gamecocks their seventh consecutive loss. The Razorbacks also won their first road game of the season.
Up 64-63, Anthony Black made a free throw with 2.3 seconds left to put the Razorbacks up two.
The Gamecocks had a chance to win it coming out of a timeout but a last-ditch 3-point attempt by Josh Gray was off the glass as time expired.
Davonte Davis knocked down four shots from beyond the arc and tallied 15 in all for Arkansas. Black added 13. Ricky Council IV scored 10.
The Gamecocks (8-15, 1-9) came up short despite a double-double from Gray, who helped South Carolina hang around by scoring 20 points and pulling down 14 rebounds. Gray scored 12 of his points in the opening half. Meechie Johnson went 5-for-8 from 3-point range and finished with 20 as well. Hayden Brown scored 10.
Arkansas held a 64-63 with 1:21 to go after Black’s layup in an effort to help his team hold off a furious rally by the Gamecocks, who took advantage of a stretch when Arkansas went nearly seven minutes without scoring.
South Carolina started the game 0-for-4 from the field before Gray scored on a layup with 17:28 to play, cutting the Arkansas lead to 4-2.
The Razorbacks created some separation midway through the half when Davis drilled a 3-pointer with 10:05 to go to put his team up 17-10. The lead grew to nine at 21-12 when Black connected on a jumper with 9:02 to play.
Those baskets were part of a 12-2 run for Arkansas, which pushed its lead to double digits for the first time when Council buried a jumper to make the score 23-12 with 7:20 left.
Graham finished the opening half with 12 points and Arkansas went into the locker room with a 36-27 lead.
–Field Level Media
