Trevon Brazile scored 18 of his 24 points after halftime and finished with 10 rebounds as No. 17 Arkansas overcame No. 16 Texas Tech on Saturday, 93-86, in a rematch of a Sweet 16 game in last season’s NCAA Tournament.
Arkansas (8-2), which trailed by as many as 10 points before halftime, went ahead for good on Brazile’s driving layup that made it 78-77 with 5:20 left. A minute after that, coming out of a timeout, he made a move near the baseline that got JT Toppin in the air and drove by the preseason AP All-American for an emphatic one-handed slam dunk.
Brazile is one of the three starters for the Razorbacks who played in the Sweet 16 game last March, when they had a 16-point lead midway through the second half before Tech rallied for an overtime victory.
Toppin had 30 points and 11 rebounds for the Red Raiders (7-3), while Christian Anderson had 26 points and 11 assists. They were the only Tech starters back from that comeback to the Elite Eight. It was Toppin’s 24th double-double in 42 games with Tech the past two seasons.
Darius Acuff Jr. and Karter Knox both had 20 points for the Razorbacks.
Brazile’s slam ended a nearly five-minute stretch for the Razorbacks in which he scored 12 points – and Acuff scored their other seven in that go-ahead stretch.
The Razorbacks led only once before halftime at 43-42 when Knox made a 3-pointer with 1:40 left that capped their 17-6 run in which he also had a dunk and a layup.
Texas Tech went back in front with the last seven points of the half, starting with back-to-back layups by Toppin.
Up next, Texas Tech is home against Northern Colorado on Tuesday, the same night Arkansas hosts Queens.
Reporting by The Associated Press.
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