Having come up nine points short against 20th-ranked Louisville Sunday night, Morgan State's Reggie Holmes was determined to redeem himself against Arkansas Tuesday and did so in a spectacular way.
Holmes hit two free throws with 6.3 seconds left and held his breath as Rotnei Clark's 3-pointer clanged off iron before celebrating a wild 97-94 upset of the Razorbacks.
The victory before 7,500 fans snapped Arkansas' 45-game home win streak at Bud Walton Arena against non-conference opponents, the second longest in the nation.
Holmes finished the game with 34 points. In Sunday's 90-81 loss to Louisville, Holmes scored only nine points before he, Kevin Thompson, DeWayne Jackson and Rodney Stokes all fouled out.
"I'm proud of my guys, it was a hard fought victory," MSU head coach Todd Bozeman told the Morgan State sports information office. "I thought in the first half we fouled a lot, and we just came off a game where a team shot 41 free throws against us. It looked as though we were going in that direction, but they shot 45 and we ended up shooting 41."
Indeed, the Bears hit 34 of 41 free throws, while the Razorbacks (2-2) made 35 of their 45 attempts.
Joe Davis came off the bench to score 18 points for the Bears (4-1), while Thompson had a double-double with 10 points and a game-high 14 rebounds.
"We had a big lift from Joe Davis off the bench," Bozeman said. "He transferred and sat out from Cleveland State and we have been waiting for him to have a breakthrough game. He has been kind of shaking the rust off and he stepped up for us tonight."
Rotnei Clark led Arkansas with 26 points and made sure that Morgan State never ran away at the end by nailing a 3-pointer with 14.1 seconds left and then another with 6.5 seconds to go. He barely missed a game-tying 3-pointer at the buzzer.
Mike Washington added 21 points for Arkansas, while Marshall Powell and Julysses Nobles each put in 17 points in a high-scoring affair reminiscent of an NBA game.
Arkansas shot an amazing 57 percent from the floor in the first half and went into the locker room up 53-47. But, the Bears made some defensive adjustments and the Razorbacks were held to 11 field goals in the second half. Five of those came in the last four minutes of the game.
"We need to play better defense," Arkansas head coach John Pelphrey told Razorbacks Phil Pierce of the Razorbacks' Athletic Media Relations office. "That is where we got hurt, not being able to rebound or defend late."
Morgan State outscored Arkansas 50-41 in the second half, led by 16 points from Holmes. DeWayne Jackson scored eight of his 10 points in the wild second half before fouling out for the second straight game, with two minutes left.
I couldn't wait to play a game after the loss on Sunday at Louisville," Holmes said. "I played only 16 minutes, and I was upset that I fouled out and we lost the game. I knew that I can do better."
Morgan State hit nine of its 19 three-point attempts, while Arkansas managed just five of 13, including two of seven in the second half (both of them being Clark's shots in the waning seconds).
The victory did a lot to soothe feelings from the Louisville loss.
"When you win right before Thanksgiving, the turkey tastes a little better," Bozeman said.
Arkansas will host East Tennessee State at 7 p.m. on Friday.
Morgan State will complete it's three-game road trip at Appalachian State for a 7 p.m. tip-off against the Mountaineers in the finale of the Hall of Fame Classic.
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