FAYETTEVILLE — After winning an open-court sprint with Missouri on Wednesday night, Arkansas came back and won a half-court slugfest with Oral Roberts on Saturday.

The Razorbacks beat the Golden Eagles 62-51 before 12, 721 fans at Walton Arena, where they beat Missouri 94-91.

“That’s part of a long season,” Arkansas senior guard Gary Ervin said. “There’s going to be a lot of teams down the road that will play an up-tempo style like we like to play, but there are going to be other teams that try and slow the ball up.

“ This is preparing us for the SEC.”

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The Razorbacks (6-1 ) scored just six points on fast breaks against the Eagles (4-3 ), but were solid in their half-court execution in the second half when they overcame a 10-point deficit.

Arkansas put together a 12-0 run over a 5: 16 span to take a 56-45 lead with 2: 18 left.

The Razorbacks combined to hit 6 of 8 free throws in the final 1: 27, including 4 of 4 by sophomore guard Patrick Beverley, to maintain control.

The Razorbacks outscored the Eagles by 21 points in the final 17 minutes.

“It started on defense,” said Ervin, who led the Razorbacks with 16 points and had 3 assists and 2 steals. “We finally stepped up on the defensive end and got some baskets in transition.

“ Great defense leads to great offense, and I think we did a good job of that at crunch time, along with executing our plays and getting fouled.”

Arkansas matched its seasonlow of 10 turnovers.

“Our guards did a good job managing the game,” Razorbacks Coach John Pelphrey said. “And we needed all those extra possessions.”

Oral Roberts Coach Scott Sutton said he was impressed by the Razorbacks’ athleticism, even though their best athlete, senior forward Sonny Weems, was suspended by Pelphrey for a violation of team rules.

“John brings a great deal of passion to this program, and I saw in the second half how those guys played,” Sutton said. “That’s the way the game should be played and the way John coaches it.

“ That’s going to be a very good team.”

While Arkansas shot 59. 1 percent from the field in the second half (13 of 22 ), Oral Roberts shot 34. 6 (9 of 26 ).

“I think their defense had a lot to do with that,” Sutton said. “We had a hard time getting into our offense and had a hard time getting good looks.”

The Eagles’ final lead was 45-44 after junior guard Robert Jarvis, who scored a game-high 18 points, hit a three-point basket with 8: 24 to play.

Oral Roberts was still within striking distance, trailing 51-45 with 4: 23 left, when senior forward Marcus Lewis was called for his second technical foul of the game, resulting in his automatic ejection.

Trying to save a loose ball, Lewis slammed it into the press row table after an initial bobble.

“I just think it’s a bad time to give a technical foul in a game like that on that particular play,” Sutton said. “You’re down six, it’s a two-possession game, and anything can happen.”

Beverley, who finished with 13 points, hit both technical free throws, and 12 seconds later senior forward Darian Townes dunked to push Arkansas’ lead to 55-45.

Townes — who had 14 points, 6 rebounds and 4 blocked shots — and Lewis were called for double technical fouls in the first half.

“[An official ] said they were just talking back and forth,” Sutton said. “You can call a technical every time down the court if they’re going to do that.”

Oral Roberts jumped ahead 10-0 as the Razorbacks missed their first nine shots and had three turnovers.

Arkansas didn’t score until sophomore forward Michael Washington put back a miss with 12: 42 left in the first half.

“Some of our shots were wild and crazy and didn’t hit the basket and headed towards cameramen on the sideline,” Pelphrey said. “It just wasn’t smart.

“ I don’t think there was any dogging going on. I think we were trying to do too much, and I think our guys were surprised at how hard it was early on.”

After pulling within 29-24 at halftime, the Razorbacks allowed the Eagles to build another 10-point lead in the second half at 36-26.

“We were like, ‘We can’t let this keep going on, because if you keep playing with fire, you’re going to lose,’” Townes said. “But we finally started getting aggressive on defense.”

Ervin said the Razorbacks weren’t going to panic.

“It’s a 40-minute game, so we wanted to come out in the second half and stay positive,” Ervin said. “We didn’t have to get it all back in one shot, but chip away at their lead.”

Pelphrey would prefer avoiding a similar start in any other games this season.

“You don’t want to have to go there too often. That’s hard,” he said. “No one wants to do that.

“ Had this game not been at home, shoot, it could have been a different story.”