FAYETTEVILLE, Ark. – Khalif Battle reached the 1,000-point mark for his career on his first shot attempt – a 3-pointer at 16:07 of the first half, and finished with a season-high 25 points to lead Arkansas to a 97-83 victory over Furman Monday night at Bud Walton Arena.
Chandler Lawson and Davonte Davis also played a key role in the win. Lawson had a career-high 19 points (8-of-10 shooting) with three blocked shots. Davis nearly had a triple-double with seven points while tying career highs in both rebounds (10) and assists (8).
For the second-straight game, Arkansas had a high assist-to-baskets made percentage, dishing out 21 assists on 37 made baskets. As a result, the Razorbacks shot 60.7% from the field, which is the fourth-best shooting percentage by the Hogs during the Eric Musselman era and fifth-best by any Musselman-coached collegiate team.
Battle and Lawson scored two quick baskets for the Hogs to start the second half and the Razorbacks never looked back. Furman hung around and was down six (58-52 with 11:57 left). Arkansas then went on a 15-1 run to lead by 20 with 9:16 left.
Furman got as close as seven twice, the last with 52 seconds left, but the Paladins didn’t score the rest of the way while Arkansas was able to break the press for the 14-point win.
Arkansas’ defense held Furman to just 28.6% (4-of-14) from 3-point range in the second half while the Hogs made 5-of-10.
Trevon Brazile finished with 13 points and two blocked shots. Layden Blocker contributed nine points (4-of-5 FG) with a season-high five rebounds, a season-high five assists and a season-high three blocked shots. In fact, Blocker entered the game with 10 total rebounds, four total assists and one blocked shot.
Furman was led by JP Pegues and Alex Williams. Pegues had 21 points, going 10-of-10 from the line, while Williams scored 20 points thanks to five 3-pointers.
Arkansas shot an impressive 60% from the field and all 10 Razorbacks that played in the period scored at least two points. However, Furman made its first five 3-pointers and finished the half with eight of its 13 made baskets from 3-point range to keep it the Paladins within striking distance.
Arkansas hits the road to play the third and final Crimson and Cardinal Classic, facing the #19 Oklahoma Sooners in Tulsa’s BOK Center. Tipoff is set for 3 pm (CT) and the game will be televised on ESPN2.
