FAYETTEVILLE — The Arkansas men’s basketball team overcame a sluggish start and rallied to defeat Abilene Christian on Thursday at Bud Walton Arena.
Guards Tramon Mark and Khalif Battle combined for 31 points after halftime to lead the Razorbacks to an 83-73 victory. Arkansas trailed by nine points in the second half.
The Razorbacks improved to 8-4 entering their longest break of the regular season. Arkansas is not scheduled to play again until a Dec. 30 home game against North Carolina-Wilmington.
"Stunk, stunk and stunk some more," Arkansas coach Eric Musselman said of the first half. "The group of six guys that played the last 16 minutes of the game, they played with energy. It’s a group that practiced with energy. That first half was not good on either side of the basketball."
Battle scored 8 points during a 10-0 run that gave Arkansas the lead early in the second half. After Keyon Menifield hit a jumper to put the Razorbacks ahead 44-43, Battle hit a three-pointer in transition to cap a 14-2 stretch.
ACU (5-7) tied the game at 47-47 on a free throw by Leonardo Bettiol with 13:26 remaining. Mark dunked on the other end to give Arkansas the lead for good.
Mark scored 17 of his game-high 25 points after halftime. He also had a game-high 11 rebounds.
It was Mark's highest point total since he was taken off the floor on a stretcher near the end of a 34-point performance against North Carolina on Nov. 24. Mark combined for 32 points in his first three games after returning from the injury.
"I think he's back," Musselman said.
Battle scored 14 of his 18 points in the second half.
"We were able to play hard and play smart in the second half," Mark said, "way better than the first half.”
Neither Mark nor Battle started. Their big games contributed to a 62-23 advantage for the Razorbacks in points off the bench.
"Both those guys were really efficient," Musselman said. "I thought Battle played his best defensive game of the season, and it wasn’t even close. I thought he got in a stance. He worked this week in practice and it correlated to the game."
Arkansas made 9 of 24 shots (37.5%) in the first half, but was 18 of 28 (64.3%) after halftime. The Razorbacks outscored the Wildcats 55-38 in the second half.
Mark made 9 of 14 shots. Battle made 5 of 8 attempts, including 3 of 4 from three-point range.
Mark and Battle each made 5 of 6 free-throw attempts as part of a 22-for-28 performance for the Razorbacks from the line.
Arkansas led by seven points early, but the Wildcats ended the first half on a 13-2 run. ACU took a 35-28 halftime lead when Kavion McClain hit a three-pointer at the buzzer.
The Wildcats grew the lead to nine points twice in the second half, including 39-30 when Airion Simmons made a driving layup with 19:15 to play.
Mark and Battle took over from there.
An and-1 layup and free throw by Mark cut the lead to 39-33. Menifield hit a pair of free throws and Chandler Lawson had a dunk to cut the lead to 41-37.
That began the 14-2 run that changed the game. Battle’s three with 16:08 remaining cut the ACU lead to 43-40 with 16:08 to play and he hit a pair of free throws on the next possession.
ACU capitalized on sloppy play by Arkansas. The Wildcats scored 16 points off of 17 turnovers by the Razorbacks and had 10 steals.
Arkansas won the rebound battle 45-34, but ACU had 11 offensive rebounds that led to 19 second-chance points. The Wildcats struggled near the rim where they were 15 of 29 on layup attempts.
Ali Abdo Dibba scored 18 points to lead ACU.
Menifield scored 11 on 4-of-8 shooting in his second game after becoming eligible last week. Menifield also had 6 rebounds, 2 assists and 4 turnovers, and the Razorbacks outscored the Wildcats by 21 points during his 28 minutes on the floor.
“He had his head down and stuff after the first half because he had a couple turnovers," Mark said. "I was telling him, ‘We’ve got a whole other 20 minutes to play.’ He came out and did exactly what he should have done. He got to the rack, made some tough shots, made some good passes. He had a great second half.”
Lawson added 9 points and a team-high 10 rebounds, and Trevon Brazile had 8 points and 4 rebounds in the first half. Brazile only played one minute after halftime.