FAYETTEVILLE — Arkansas’ pressure defense ate up Delaware State on Saturday with senior forward Sonny Weems as the catalyst. Weems had a career-high

1 five steals, all within the first 6 / 2 minutes of the second half, to fuel the Razorbacks’ 89-67 victory Saturday at Walton Arena before 11, 094 fans. “Sonny was a game-changer,” Arkansas Coach John Pelphrey said. “He was a playmaker on defense. “ I think a lot of times people get caught up on playmaking only on the offensive side of it, but you can do it on defense, too, and that’s what Sonny did.

“ He was phenomenal just flying around and rotating for steals. He covered a lot of ground.”

Weems’ steals were part of a 22-6 run by the Razorbacks to push their lead from 45-36 to 67-42 with 13: 26 remaining.

“I tell Sonny all the time that in order for us to be successful, he needs to be a big part of it, because he’s an athletic freak,” Arkansas sophomore guard Stefan Welsh said. “He can jump out of the gym and he’s so long and so quick, and today he did a great job of getting steals and creating transition baskets for everybody.”

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Arkansas (4-1 ) forced the Hornets (2-3 ) into 21 turnovers, including three 10-second calls on which they failed to advance the ball past halfcourt; two 35-second shot clock violations; and a fivesecond call on which they couldn’t inbound the ball.

“I think we rattled them a little bit,” Weems said. “We showed them we’re here to play and we’re not taking it easy on anybody.”

Weems said Pelphrey got on the players at halftime about playing tougher defensively.

“I think everybody took that to heart, and we came out and played harder,” Weems said. “We picked up our intensity and turned up the heat on our press.”

Senior forward Roy Bright led Delaware State with a game-high 28 points, including hitting 5 of 10 three-pointers.

“Bright is fantastic,” Pelphrey said. “He shot it lights out.”

The Razorbacks used their size advantage to outscore the Hornets 44-22 in the lane, hit 15 of 19 free throws and had a season-low 10 turnovers while scoring 33 points off Delaware State turnovers.

During one stretch of the second half, Delaware State failed to get the ball past halfcourt on four consecutive possessions.

Pelphrey credited the Razorbacks with doing a good job of pinning the Hornets in the corner, trapping and forcing bad passes.

“That’s kind of the way you’d like to draw it up,” Pelphrey said. “We were able to create a lot of disturbance in the backcourt.”

Delaware State shot 53. 1 percent from the field (26 of 49 ), but lost too many possessions to turnovers.

“In the second half [the Razorbacks ] went to a different level that we couldn’t match,” Hornets Coach Greg Jackson said. “And they wore us down with their size inside.”

Senior forward Darian Townes led the Razorbacks with 18 points and seven rebounds in 17 minutes off the bench.

“I thought Darian played fantastic again in a very short period of time,” Pelphrey said. “It’s amazing how much he’s getting down right now.”

Welsh had 12 points and seven assists without a turnover, and senior guard Gary Ervin had six assists without a turnover.

“That was a phenomenal performance, 13 assists and no turnovers,” Pelphrey said of Welsh and Ervin. “I wish that would continue.

“ I’m not thinking it’s going to happen, but that would be great.”

Senior forward Charles Thomas added 15 points for the Razorbacks on 6-of-6 shooting. Sophomore guard Patrick Beverley was held to a season-low nine points, but the Razorbacks didn’t need a big game offensively from their leading scorer thanks to their defensive effort.

“I told these guys, ‘I don’t need you waving to the crowd and getting them up. You play the right way and encourage each other, they’ll cheer for you,’ and boy, did the place erupt,” Pelphrey said of the Razorbacks’ secondhalf run. “That was awesome and makes it very, very difficult on the opponent as well.

“ It was fun to see those guys playing together, sharing the ball, and to feel the energy in this building.”