FAYETTEVILLE, Ark. (AP) — Darius Acuff Jr. scored a career-high 31 points and Billy Richmond III scored a career-high 25 points to lead No. 21 Arkansas to an 88-75 win over Auburn on Saturday night.
Acuff, who made 10 of 15 shots from the field and 7 of 10 from 3-point range, hit three straight 3-pointers early in the second half to help the Razorbacks (19-6, 9-3 Southeastern Conference) lead by six at halftime and go on a 19-4 run before the first media timeout.
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The freshman guard has scored in double figures in every game this season and has now scored 20 or more points in six consecutive games. Arkansas went 5-1 in that span.
Richmond made 12 of 15 shots, breaking his previous personal high of 16 points. As a team, Arkansas shot 57% from the field.
Auburn (14-11, 5-7) was without leading scorer Keyshawn Hall, who is averaging 20.7 points per game. Coach Steven Pearl said Hall was out for disciplinary reasons. Tahad Pettiford scored 29 points on 11-of-18 shooting, and Keshaun Murphy scored 22 points on 9-of-16 shooting. The rest of the Tigers shot 22 percent from the field.
The Tigers narrowed the deficit to eight points with 8:25 left in the game, but Richmond scored five points in a row and Acuff hit another three-pointer to push Arkansas’ lead back to double digits.
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Acuff became the second player in Arkansas history to score at least 500 points and dish out 150 assists in a season. Lee Mayberry did this three times between 1990 and 1992.
Next
Auburn will play Mississippi State on Wednesday night.
Arkansas will face Alabama on Wednesday night.
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