Razorbacks take 3rd in Maui Invitational
Hogs edge Aztecs to cap holiday tourney
From the University of Arkanas
arkansasrazorbacks.com
LAHAINA, Hawaii — Trevon Brazile had 20 points and nine rebounds off the bench, Ricky Council scored 19 points, and No. 9 Arkansas rallied to defeat No. 17 San Diego State 78-74 in overtime on Wednesday night to take third place at the Maui Invitational.
Kamani Johnson’s twohanded follow of a missed layup tied the game as time ran out in regulation. In overtime, a 3-pointer by Darrion Trammell gave the Aztecs a 70-69 lead with 3:56 left but Council countered with a jumper that gave the Razorbacks a lead they would not surrender.
In the final seconds, the Aztecs’ Matt Bradley missed a potential tying layup with 3 seconds left and Johnson made a pair of free throws to seal the win.
San Diego State had a couple of chances to wrap up a win in the final minute or so of regulation. Bradley’s reverse layup gave the Aztecs a 65-63 lead with 1:02 remaining and Adam Seiko added two free throws for a 67-63 lead with 17 seconds left.
But the Aztecs’ Lamont Butler fouled Anthony Black, who made both free throws, then the Razorbacks trapped the inbound pass and Brazile came up with a steal. A few seconds later, Johnson followed a miss by Black and the game went to overtime. Bradley scored 23 points, making 9 of 20 shots and grabbing seven rebounds for the Aztecs (4-2).
Trammell scored 13 points and Keshad Johnson added
See MAUI, page A13 MAUI
From page A6
10 points with seven rebounds for San Diego State, which led by as many as 13 points in the first half.
Black finished with 15 points for Arkansas (5-1).
The Razorbacks, who played for third place after losing 90-87 to Creighton in the semifinals, return to Fayetteville to play Troy on Monday.
The teams combined to miss their first 17 3-point attempts before Brazile hit one for Arkansas with 19:41 left in the game.
Arkansas finished 3 for 17 from distance and San Diego State made 2 of 18.
Despite the horrible 3-point shooting, Arkansas managed to shoot 40 percent from the field and San Diego State finished at 43.5 percent.
Creighton 90, Arkansas 87 Ryan Nembhard drove the lane for an authoritative dunk in the closing minutes and scored a career-high 25 points for No. 10 Creighton, which survived a tense second half to beat No. 9 Arkansas 90-87 on Tuesday.
Trey Alexander made two free throws with 1.9 seconds left for Creighton.
The Bluejays and Razorbacks played an electrifying second half worthy of a March Madness matchup. Arkansas has reached the Elite Eight in consecutive seasons and Creighton got to the second round last year after advancing to the Sweet 16 in 2021.
Ryan Kalkbrenner scored 21 points, Baylor Scheierman 20 and
See MAUI, page A14
Photo courtesy of Arkansas State University MAUI
From page A13
Alexander 12 for the Bluejays, who had a 12point lead late in the first half.
Anthony Black scored 26 points, Ricky Council IV 24 and Trevon Brazile 17 for the Razorbacks.
There were 10 lead changes, and the game was tied 10 times in the second half.
Nembhard made two free throws after the Arkansas bench was whistled for a technical foul with 13:57 to go for a 53-53 tie.
Creighton was in the double bonus for the final 13 minutes.
Nembhard, the shortest player on the floor at 6 feet, drove for a dunk and a 79-76 lead with 2:34 to go.
Brazile answered with a 3pointer the next time down the floor to tie it at 79.
Kalkbrenner made a reverse jam with 1:20 left to give the Bluejays the lead for good at 83-81.
After Scheierman made two free throws for an 8784 lead with 16 seconds left, Council missed a corner 3 and Nembhard rebounded and was fouled.
He made one of two free throws and Black came down the floor and drained a straight-on 3 to pull Arkansas within one.
Alexander then made his two insurance free throws.
Creighton ran to a 12-point lead with 1:43 to go in the first half before the Razorbacks closed with a 6-0 run, capped by Trevon Brazile’s thunderous dunk on an alley-oop pass from Anthony Black.
