COLLEGE MEN: Blazers top Hogs in NLR

Arkansas’ Marcus Britt (12) passes to Rotnei Clarke during Friday night’s game against Alabama-Birmingham at Verizon Arena in North Little Rock.
Arkansas’ Marcus Britt (12) passes to Rotnei Clarke during Friday night’s game against Alabama-Birmingham at Verizon Arena in North Little Rock.

— The Arkansas Razorbacks celebrated wildly after Jeff Peterson’s buzzer-beating basket against Alabama-Birmingham.

Unfortunately for the Razorbacks, Peterson’s three-pointer only sent the game into overtime.

The Blazers dominated the extra period to beat Arkansas 70-65 on Friday night at Verizon Arena in North Little Rock before an announced crowd of 8,425.

“Everybody was disappointed with our performance in overtime,” Peterson said. “Our defense wasn’t good enough.

“It’s probably not the last time we’re going to be in a close game situation, so if we can learn from this and get better, that will be good.”

UAB (4-1) outscored Arkansas 11-3 the f irst four minutes of overtime, including three-point baskets by Robert Williams and Cameron Moore and a three-point play by Ovie Soko, to take a 68-60 lead.

The Razorbacks hit just 1 of 6 free throws in overtime and started 1 of 4 from the field.

“We left eight or 10 points out there that we could have converted pretty easily,” Arkansas Coach John Pelphrey said.

Arkansas (3-1) outscored UAB 9-2 the final 1:05 of regulation, capped by Peterson’s three-pointer with a half-second left.

The Razorbacks appeared to have all of the momentum, but they couldn’t carry it over and the Blazers didn’t panic.

“We did one of the toughest things tonight that I think you can do on the road, and that’s lose a big lead, go into overtime on a last-second shot and be able to win the game in overtime,” UAB Coach Mike Davis said. “That speaks volumes about our guys.

“You have to give Arkansas a lot of credit. They fought the whole game. They didn’t give up, and they had plenty of opportunities.

“I’m just proud of my guys for their effort and their concentration.”

It was the second consecutive victory for UAB against Arkansas. The Blazers won 73-72 at Walton Arena last season when Howard Crawford dunked with 1 second left off an inbounds play.

“We just fought like crazy,” UAB senior point guard Aaron Johnson said of Friday night’s game. “That’s our motto, we fight the whole game whether we’re up or down.

“We knew they’d have a lot of momentum [in overtime], but Coach told us, ‘Stay focused, we can still win this game. The score is 0-0 now, so let’s come out and let’s execute defensively and push the ball offensively and get some open looks and get everybody involved.’ ”

Arkansas got a big game inside from senior forward Delvon Johnson (18 points, 13 rebounds), but the Razorbacks hit just 3 of 21 three-point attempts, including 2 of 9 by junior guard Rotnei Clarke.

Soko, Williams, Jamarr Sanders, and Quincy Taylor allguarded Clarke - who came into the game with 195 career three-point baskets - when the Blazers were in man-toman defense.

“We know Clarke’s one of the great shooters in the country,” Davis said. “We just wanted to make sure every time he caught the ball, we made it tough on him.

“I think there were a couple of looks he had that normally he’ll knock down, and he missed them early. And I think it just kind of snowballed from there.

“We tried to pressure him, but he just missed some shotsI think.”

Despite Clarke’s struggles, the Razorbacks were looking to get him the ball when they inbounded trailing 57-54 with 7.3 seconds left in regulation.

But Peterson had to take the shot and hit it to break a streak of 15 consecutive three-point misses by the Razorbacks.

“That wasn’t the play, but they did a great job of staying on Rot, so I had to shoot,” Peterson said. “It wasn’t enough to get the job done.”

Sanders led UAB with 19 points. Soko had 17 points and eight rebounds and Moore had 14 points and 10 rebounds.

But Pelphrey said Aaron Johnson - who had 10 points and eight assists - is “the guy” for the Blazers.

“You’ve got to give him credit,” Pelphrey said. “He got to where he needed to get to and was able to deliver the ball to their guys, and they made some shots.”

Peterson, a junior transfer from Iowa playing his fourth game for the Razorbacks, had 13 points. Clarke and Julysses Nobles each had 10.

Forward Marshawn Powell, who is continuing to recover from a broken left foot, played 25 minutes off the bench and had six points, hitting 3 of 11 attempts. He got in good position for shots, but struggled to finish at the basket.

“Tough game,” Pelphrey said. “Tough loss.

“It’s tough because we were right there close enough to win. We needed a few more plays.”

Sports, Pages 19 on 11/27/2010

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