FAYETTEVILLE — Darian Townes’ game started with a dunk in transition.

Next came a layup off a feed from Charles Thomas. That was followed by a tip-in, and later there were two free throws, a stickback dunk and a short, face-up jump shot along the baseline.

Townes capped his day with a thunderous two-handed dunk after setting a screen and then slipping toward the basket to take a pass from Gary Ervin.

All of it added up to 14 points on 6-of-10 shooting from the floor, as Townes sparked a sluggish Arkansas offense in a 62-51 victory over Oral Roberts on Saturday afternoon at Walton Arena.

ADVERTISEMENT

“Early, he kind of saved us because offensively we couldn’t get anything going,” Coach John Pelphrey said of Townes, Arkansas’ 6-10 senior forward / center. “He can score that basketball.

“ He’s quick right now, he’s athletic and, boy, he’s hard to block out right now. He’s getting a lot of second-chance opportunities for us.”

This is Townes’ last chance to make a statement at the college level, and he’s off to a promising start, averaging 12. 4 points and 6. 3 rebounds per game. Townes has looked leaner and meaner this season than in his previous three, and has shown the ability to score in a variety of ways.

“We work on that a lot in practice every day before we really get into practice,” Townes said. “We work on short shots, facing up, different moves.”

Townes showed a little bit of everything against Oral Roberts, helping Arkansas close within 23-22 after falling behind 10-0 in the first half, then scoring three consecutive baskets as the Razorbacks stretched a 47-45 lead to 55-45 with 4: 12 to play.

The last basket during that stretch was the two-handed dunk that came after Townes took two big steps from just inside the free-throw line and rose well above any Oral Roberts defenders.

“The play was really to set a screen for Gary,” Townes said with a smile. “I just slipped it and got the easy flush.”

Ervin said Townes has provided a consistent boost while coming off the bench in all seven of Arkansas’ games.

“He’s a guy that can come in on any given night and give us 20 points,” Ervin said.

Townes also had 6 rebounds and 4 blocks in 25 minutes on Saturday. One of the blocks came during the game-changing 11-0 run late in the second half, when he rejected a shot by Oral Roberts center Shawn King.

“He didn’t really know what to do, so he just threw up a quick shot, and I just put up my hand and blocked it,” Townes said.

Pelphrey said he’s been pleased with Townes’ effort and in-tune approach since the season started.

“Darian Townes is in a good place right now mentally,” Pelphrey said. “I think he’s always had physical abilities.... Darian’s just got to keep focusing on the right things.”