FAYETTEVILLE — There was a fear factor at work when Arkansas held off Missouri to beat the Tigers 94-91 on Wednesday night.

“We’re afraid to lose, I can honestly say that,” Razorbacks senior forward Charles Thomas said after the teams thoroughly entertained a Walton Arena crowd of 18, 621. “We’re terrified of Coach [John ] Pelphrey, and we’re going to go out there and give it our all.”

Thomas said the fear of losing resulted from tough practices the Razorbacks (5-1 ) had in a steamy gym in Puerto Rico after losing to Providence 67-51 on Nov. 16.

“That was a lot of motivation,” Thomas said. “Coach Pelphrey is a real tough guy, but he does it because he cares.”

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Pelphrey laughed when told what Thomas had said about the players being afraid of him.

“Is that a compliment ?” Pelphrey said. “I’m proud of those guys.

“ We didn’t play perfect. There are a lot of things we’ve got to work on.

“ But I felt like those guys played to win, and when their manhood and heart got questioned, they didn’t separate and divide. They hung together and they just kept playing and scratching and clawing.”

The game featured 21 lead changes and 12 ties and wasn’t over until Missouri senior forward Darryl Butterfield’s three-point attempt from the corner missed the goal at the buzzer.

Thomas guarded Butterfield on the last play, with Missouri inbounding the ball with 1. 9 seconds left after gaining possession on a jump ball, and he made sure the officiating crew wouldn’t call a foul.

“I knew he’d try and jump into me,” Thomas said. “I had to use my head and not give him a chance. I didn’t leave my feet at all.”

Missouri sophomore guard Stefhon Hannah had a game-high 28 points, but couldn’t hit a closely guarded three-point attempt with five seconds left before the final possession.

“I was trying to get fouled on the last shot,” Hannah said. “But the refs didn’t call it, and there’s nothing I could do about it.”

Missouri (5-2 ) went ahead 88-87 on a three-point play by sophomore guard Keon Lawrence with 2: 22 left.

The game’s final lead change then took place at the 1: 43 mark when Razorbacks sophomore guard Patrick Beverley hit a threepoint basket for the last of his 19 points to make it 90-88

Arkansas held on when Thomas, who had team highs of 21 points and eight rebounds, and Weems, who had 16 points, combined to hit 4 of 4 free throws in the final 26. 6 seconds.

“They made a couple more plays going down the stretch than we did,” said Missouri Coach Mike Anderson, a former Arkansas assistant. “But our guys don’t have to hold their heads down, because we battled in a very tough environment.

“ We just ran out of time. You wish a game like that could continue on. It was exciting basketball.”

The Razorbacks avenged an 86-64 loss they suffered at Missouri last season.

“We were waiting for this game all year,” Weems said. “It was all we were talking about.

“ They embarrassed us last year, so it’s a great feeling to beat them.”

Missouri’s only previous loss was to No. 10 Michigan State, 86-83, and the Tigers beat Maryland 84-70.

“This is huge for us right now, because Missouri is no rinky-dink team as you can see,” Thomas said. “They have a great coach and great players.”

Arkansas had 23 turnovers, but settled down after having 10 in the first eight minutes to fall behind 21-13.

The Razorbacks cleaned up their ball-handling and led 51-50 at halftime.

“With 10 minutes to go in the first half, I thought, ‘Wow, this isn’t going the way we want it to go right now,’” Pelphrey said. “But we made some adjustments and the guys handled the adversity and stuck together.

“ Missouri s going to keep coming, so for us to gather ourselves and regroup is real positive.”

Arkansas’ pressure defense helped force 21 turnovers by the Tigers, and the Razorbacks shot a season-high 57. 6 percent from the field (34 of 59 ).

“To get this win against them, we feel very fortunate,” Pelphrey said. “Certainly the game could have gone either way.”

While reflecting on what Thomas said about the players ’ fear, Pelphrey noted he felt the same way about Rick Pitino, his coach at Kentucky.

“I can tell you Coach Pitino motivated out of fear, and it’s not fear in a bad way,” Pelphrey said. “It’s not fear that paralyzes you and makes you want to hide.

“ It’s a fear that I’ve got to make sure I’m prepared and I don’t want to lose this basketball game.”