Arkansas flies high in victory

Arkansas’ 67-42 rout of Texas-San Antonio turned into a dunkfest at times, and several Razorbacks delivered highlightworthy jams.

Steven Hill started things off with a two-hander in transition and later put one down off an alley-oop pass from Sonny Weems. Darian Townes also had two, one of which was a thunderous, two-handed stickback.

Charles Thomas had a nice two-hander as well, but Weems and Patrick Beverley easily turned in the most eye-popping performances. Beverley, 6-1, threw down a one-handed dunk in traffic after driving through the lane late in the first half.

“He classified it as a Dwyane Wade dunk, but I don’t really see that,” Thomas said with a smile. “I’d probably give it more of a Boris Diaw or something like that, but it was a nice play. It got the crowd going and it sparked a little run for us.”

ADVERTISEMENT

Even Beverley gave the nod to Weems after the 6-6 wingman threw down a one-handed alley-oop from Stefan Welsh in the second half. Welsh’s pass was slightly behind Weems, and Weems appeared to corral the ball near the top of the box painted on the backboard.

“Never in my life,” Beverley said. “I have never seen nobody jump the way he jumps. It’s crazy.”

Texas-San Antonio Coach Brooks Thompson concurred.

“He’s as good an athlete as anybody in the country,” Thompson said of Weems. “His hand was over the square and he had to reach back behind him. It was a fabulous, athletic play.”

“That’s Sonny Weems,” Thomas said. “He can really fly.” Rakestraw debuts

Freshman guard Nate Rakestraw of Springdale logged his first minutes of the season after missing eight games because of a broken right pinkie finger.

Rakestraw returned to practice Thursday and entered Wednesday’s game with 6: 23 left in the first half. Rakestraw was 0 for 3, including two three-point shots, in 10 minutes.

Heads up ! Texas-San Antonio’s Travis Gabbidon played a hard 38 minutes against Arkansas, scoring a team-high 11 points on 4-of-11 shooting. Gabbidon also had 6 rebounds and 1 assist to go with 3 turnovers. Gabbidon drew the most attention, though, when he went to the free-throw line with 1: 51 to go in the first half. Referee Tom Eades apparently didn’t notice Gabbidon bending over at the line to wipe sweat off his face and threw what amounted to a bounce pass that hit Gabbidon flush in the face. Another familiar face

Two games after facing Oral Roberts Coach Scott Sutton, who was a player at Oklahoma State while Arkansas Coach John Pelphrey was a graduate assistant there, Pelphrey found himself facing another old friend Wednesday.

Texas-San Antonio Coach Brooks Thompson also played on that Oklahoma State team. Another former Cowboy, Bryant “Big Country” Reeves, also attended Wednesday’s game.

Second shots Arkansas senior Darian Townes’ first rebound Wednesday night was the 500 th of his career. He finished with four for the game, giving him a career total of 503.... Arkansas improved to 18-0 in its first game following a break for semester exams. Arkansas began taking a break in its season for exams during the 1990-1991 season.... Texas-San Antonio was whistled for two 10-second violations during Wednesday’s loss.