Hogs top Houston for fourth straight win

Manuale Watkins (21) of Arkansas defends Galen Robinson Jr. (25) of Houston on Tuesday, Dec. 6, 2016, at Bud Walton Arena in Fayetteville.
Manuale Watkins (21) of Arkansas defends Galen Robinson Jr. (25) of Houston on Tuesday, Dec. 6, 2016, at Bud Walton Arena in Fayetteville.

— Arkansas blew a 14-point first-half lead, but rallied after halftime to beat Houston 84-72 Tuesday at Bud Walton Arena.

The Razorbacks outscored the Cougars 50-37 in the second half after trailing 35-34 at halftime.

Arkansas put the game away with a 12-2 run after Houston pulled within 65-62 with 5:37 remaining.

Manny Watkins and Dustin Thomas each scored four points during the run that pushed Arkansas' lead to as many as 13 points in the closing minutes. Thomas scored eight points after halftime and finished with 11.

"It was our defense and we started to communicate," guard Daryl Macon said of the difference late. "...We didn't look back after that."

Macon and Dusty Hannahs each scored 17 points to lead Arkansas (7-1) to its most significant win this season. Moses Kingsley added 14 points and 9 rebounds.

Hannahs didn't start and helped the Razorbacks' bench outscore Houston's bench 34-14.

"I thought the difference was our bench play," Arkansas coach Mike Anderson said. "I thought our bench came in and made them extend a lot of minutes in that first half. You saw that going down the stretch when the shots they were making early on weren't going in."

Houston (6-2) started slow in its second loss at an SEC arena in seven days. The Cougars made only one shot during a nearly 6-minute stretch and fell behind 25-11 on a pair of Hannahs free throws midway through the first half.

But Houston closed the first half on an 18-6 run to take the halftime lead.

The run was sparked by Galen Robinson Jr.'s 3-pointer as the shot clock expired with 5:56 left before the half. Robinson was part of a four-guard rotation that scored all but three of Houston's first-half points.

Rob Gray scored 22 points to lead the Cougars. Damyean Dotson added 15 and a game-high 10 rebounds, Robinson 14 points and Wes Vanbeck 10 for Houston.

"Rob Gray, we had no answer for him," Anderson said. "Dotson, he came alive. Dotson and Robinson played 39 minutes and they were just going full-blast the whole game."

The Razorbacks lost the turnover battle 13-9, but outscored the Cougars by 12 in free throws and second-chance points.

"We still had a lead in the second half," Houston coach Kelvin Sampson said. "... This is a game we could have won, but you've got to play a little bit better defense and get a little more production out of our bigs in a game like this."

Arkansas has won four straight home games and will conclude a five-game home stand Saturday with a game against North Florida (3-7) at 4:30 p.m.

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