BATON ROUGE -- The Arkansas basketball team got to enjoy its flight home Saturday night.
It's been a while.
The Razorbacks were able to celebrate after rallying from a 14-point deficit to beat LSU 78-70 in the Maravich Assembly Center in front of an announced crowd of 7,132.
It was a much-needed victory for Arkansas (18-7, 7-5 SEC) after the Razorbacks had lost back-to-back games to Missouri and Vanderbilt.
Arkansas lost its previous two Saturday games at Oklahoma State 99-71 in the SEC/Big 12 Challenge and at Missouri 83-78 when the Tigers broke their 13-game losing streak.
The Razorbacks' last Saturday victory had come against LSU 99-86 three weeks ago in Walton Arena.
"Everybody's happy right now," Arkansas senior guard Dusty Hannahs said. "It was a pretty terrible week losing two in a row. We all were down. Now we're feeling good and ready to get rolling again."
Hannahs helped lead the comeback in the second half, when he scored 14 of his 17 points to erase a 40-31 halftime deficit.
"It's just good to get the taste of winning back in our mouths," said Hannahs, who hit 5 of 10 three-pointers. "Getting back to what we were doing before we bumped our head."
Arkansas outscored LSU 13-0 over a 2:31 span, including eight points by Hannahs, to take a 55-46 lead with 12:29 left.
Hannahs hit two three-point baskets in the run and junior guard Anton Beard hit one. The Tigers also had four turnovers to help the Razorbacks score in transition.
"It started with defense," Hannahs said. "We were touching the basketball and getting out for easy, open looks. That was what propelled us to the win."
The Tigers (9-15, 1-11) pulled within 62-56 on Brandon Sampson's dunk.
Arkansas pushed its lead back to 76-64 with 3:35 left on two free throws by junior forward Dustin Thomas. LSU didn't pull closer than six points the rest of the game after leading 33-19 in the first half.
"It's just a testament to our guys," Arkansas Coach Mike Anderson said of his team's rally. "They've got heart. They've got will. They've got fight.
"They didn't get discouraged. They easily could have gotten discouraged after the last couple outings we'd had and then to get down tonight, but they didn't. I thought they rolled their sleeves up and went to work."
Arkansas junior guard Daryl Macon had 17 points off the bench. Thomas, who also played off the bench, had nine points and nine rebounds.
Razorbacks senior Moses Kingsley had 9 points, 5 rebounds and 5 blocked shots, and Beard had 11 points. Senior guard Manny Watkins had 5 points, 3 rebounds and 2 steals, and junior guard Jaylen Barford had 8 points, 6 rebounds and 3 assists.
"We had a lot of guys that contributed," Anderson said.
LSU consistently got baskets inside -- including six dunks -- in the first half against Arkansas' man-to-man defense, but the Tigers struggled in the second half when the Razorbacks primarily played a matchup zone.
"We always talk about trying to make adjustments to what teams are doing, and in the second half we did a much better job of keeping the ball out of the middle and keeping them from getting so many layups," Anderson said. "I thought the zone tonight was the big difference in the game."
LSU shot 36.4 percent in the second half (12 of 33) and had 10 of its 16 turnovers.
"The zone really had a big effect," Macon said. "We made them shoot from the outside. It wasn't like the first half where they were getting wide-open dunks and layups."
Sophomore guard Antonio Blakeney led LSU with 21 points. Junior forward Duop Reath had 14 points and 15 rebounds.
"We allowed Arkansas to get off the mat and become a confident basketball team in the second half," LSU Coach Johnny Jones said. "We didn't play tough enough to put ourselves in position to secure the victory."
The Tigers outrebounded the Razorbacks 50-30 and had a 21-5 edge in second-chance points, but Arkansas hit 20 of 27 free throws and 10 of 26 three-pointers.
LSU hit 14 of 21 free throws and 4 of 15 three-pointers.
"We knew the wear and tear would eventually affect them," Macon said. "At halftime we told each other, 'Stay together and the run will come.' "
Anderson said he expected LSU to play well to start the game with the Tigers' 1991 SEC championship team, including Shaquille O'Neal, being honored.
"LSU came out on fire, which I knew they would," Anderson said. "They had a lot of emotion going on. They had big Shaq in the house. They were ready."
LSU suffered its 11th consecutive loss and fell to 0-7 in SEC home games. The Tigers are the only SEC team without a conference home victory. They haven't won since beating Missouri 88-77 on Jan. 4 at Mizzou Arena.
"They're the last-place team in the conference, but any road win is a good win," Hannahs said. "We're going to take it."
Game sketch
RECORDS Arkansas 18-7, 7-5 SEC; LSU 9-15, 1-11
STARS Arkansas senior guard Dusty Hannahs (17 points) and junior guard Daryl Macon (17 points) and junior forward Dustin Thomas (9 points, 9 rebounds). LSU sophomore guard Antonio Blakeney (21 points)
TURNING POINT The Razorbacks outscored the Tigers 13-0 over a 2:31 span to take a 55-46 lead with 12:29 left.
KEY STAT Arkansas shot 53.8 percent (14 of 26) from the field in the second half, including 7 of 17 three-pointers. UP NEXT Arkansas plays No. 19 South Carolina at 5:30 p.m. Central on Wednesday in Columbia, S.C.
— Bob Holt
Sports on 02/12/2017