Weems Hill Lead Arkansas Past Stephen F. Austin

FAYETTEVILLE, Ark. – Sonny Weems recorded a double-double and Steven Hill came up big on offense and defense as Arkansas improved to 2-0 with a 70-59 victory over Stephen F. Austin on Saturday.

Weems was eight-of-12 shooting, including three-of-four on threes, and five-of-five at the line to finish with a game-high 24 points. He also had a game-high 11 rebounds, including seven offensive boards, while adding four assists, two blocked shots and two steals.

Arkansas led 35-31 at the half and jumped out to a 46-36 lead four minutes into the second period.

SFA (1-2) scored 11 straight to take a 47-46 lead, but Arkansas went on a 13-0 run to take control of the game. Weems had nine points in the run while Darian Townes had the other four points. The run covered just more than three minutes and gave the Razorbacks a 59-47 lead with 8:22 to play.

The Lumberjacks closed within 59-53 with 4:53 to go, but Weems converted a three-point play and made a jumper, and Hill scored on a layup with 3:22 left for a 66-53 advantage.

Hill scored a career-high 12 points on six-of-seven shooting. He also had seven blocked shots for the second straight game and four rebounds.

As a team, UA blocked 14 shots, which ties for the fourth-best game total in school history.

Arkansas shot 52.9 percent from the floor (27-51) while holding SFA to 44.2 percent, including 38.5 percent in the second period.

UA shot 57.1 percent in the opener and has shot better than 50 percent in two straight for the first time since early in the 2005 season.

Junior Gary Ervin was four-of-six shooting, and finished with 12 points and five assists. Junior Vincent Hunter had 11 points, five rebounds, three assists and two blocked shots.

Matt Kingsley led the Lumberjacks with 18 points and eight rebounds. He was seven-of-13 shooting, but was just two-of-five for six points in the second half.

Josh Alexander had 12 points and Chaz Dykes 10.

Arkansas travels to Orlando for the Old Spice Classic next week. The Razorbacks open the tournament with an 11 a.m. (central) game against Southern Illinois on Thursday. The game will be televised by ESPN2.

Download: sfa box.pdf