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AUBURN, Ala. — John Pelphrey was right. Winning at Auburn wasn’t easy for Arkansas.

But the Razorbacks did enough to beat the Tigers 76-70 on Thursday night before an announced crowd of 6, 079 at Beard-Eaves Memorial Coliseum to give Pelphrey his first SEC victory as the Razorbacks ’ coach.

Arkansas (12-3, 1-0 ) won its SEC road opener for the first time in six years, since beating Auburn 83-77 on Jan. 5, 2002.

Pelphrey, hired last April from South Alabama, became the first Arkansas coach to win the conference road opener of his tenure since Eddie Sutton when the Razorbacks won at SMU 73-69 on Jan. 25, 1975.

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Auburn (9-4, 0-1 ) is down to seven healthy scholarship players, but as Pelphrey predicted earlier this week, the Tigers made it tough on the bigger, deeper Razorbacks.

“We knew it was not going to be easy — at all,” Pelphrey said. “[Auburn ] has a lot of experience and toughness and they played with a lot of pride.”

Arkansas improved to 8-40 in SEC road games since winning at Auburn six years ago and the Razorbacks have won backto-back games away from home, including an 85-78 victory over Baylor at Dallas last Saturday.

“We’re a different team with a different coach and this is a new year,” Arkansas senior forward Sonny Weems said. “We’ve had a lot of rough times on the road in the past, but we’re out to change that this year.”

Weems and sophomore guard Patrick Beverley each scored 17 points to lead the Razorbacks. Senior forward Charles Thomas had 14 points, hitting 6 of 7 shots. Senior guard Gary Ervin had 9 points and sophomore forward Michael Washington had 7 points and 7 rebounds in just 18 minutes.

“No one guy can win a game by himself,” said Beverley, who hit 5 of 6 three-point attempts. “We played as a team.”

Weems scored 15 points in the second half and was 6 of 9 from the field, including 3 of 4 on three-pointers, after being 1 of 4 from the field in the first half.

“I started playing more aggressive in the second half,” said Weems, who had 7 assists and just 1 turnover in 36 minutes. “I was kind of laid-back in the first half, but my teammates did a good job of getting me going after that.”

Junior guard Rasheem Barrett, who led Auburn with 21 points, hit an 8-foot jump shot to tie the score 52-52 with 9: 51 left.

Arkansas then went on a 13-5 run, including two three-point baskets by Weems, to take a 65-57 lead with 5: 54 left.

Auburn pulled within 67-65 at the 3: 44 mark on two free throws by senior forward Quan Prowell.

Weems hit a 15-foot jumper and senior forward Darian Townes dunked with an assist from Beverley to push the Razorbacks’ lead to 71-66 with 2: 37 left.

The Tigers got no closer than three points the rest of the game.

Auburn had a chance to tie the score with less than a minute to go, but Quantez Robertson missed a three-point attempt with 50 seconds left and Prowell missed another three-pointer seven seconds later after an offensive rebound.

Washington hit 1 of 2 free throws to make it 74-70 with 28 seconds left and Beverley scored on a breakaway layup with two seconds left for the final margin.

“It feels good to be 1-0 in the SEC and get some roadkill,” Thomas said. “But it’s a long season and we’ve got 15 more [conference games ] to play. This is just the start.”

Auburn keep pressure on the Razorbacks by hitting 9 of 35 three-point attempts, scoring 13 points on 14 offensive rebounds and hitting 11 of 15 free throws while Arkansas hit 7 of 17.

At one point in the second half, the Razorbacks missed six consecutive free throws.

Arkansas shot a season-high 57. 7 from the field (30 of 52 ) and had 21 assists with 12 turnovers.

“I thought we had a good mixture of inside-outside,” Pelphrey said. “The only thing we didn’t do well was shoot free throws.

“ It was bad misses, too. Just bizarre.”

Senior guard Frank Tolbert added 17 points for the Tigers.

“They battled their tails off, ’ Auburn Coach Jeff Lebo said of his players. “ They were just absolutely incredible.”

Pelphrey said that throughout the second half he challenged Arkansas’ seniors.

“I kept telling them, ‘Let’s go, you’re not getting this back !’” Pelphrey said. “And they stepped it up.

Arkansas returns home to play Alabama at Walton Arena on Sunday.

“ It’s nice to win, but this is one game,” Pelphrey said. “We didn’t win the national championship. It doesn’t count for two.”

A three-point basket by Barrett gave Auburn a 39-37 lead with 19: 27 left.

DeWayne Reed hit 1 of 2 free throws after time had expired in the first half to cut Arkansas’ halftime lead to 37-36.

Reed found himself alone on the free-throw line with no time showing after Thomas was called for intentionally fouling him at the halftime buzzer to prevent a dunk on a breakaway that would have tied the score.

Arkansas outscored Auburn 12-3 over the last 7: 28 of the first half to erase an eight-point deficit.

Back-to-back three-point baskets by Beverley and Ervin pulled the Razorbacks into a 33-33 tie.

A tip-in basket on Townes on a pass by Weems and Ervin’s driving layup put the Razorbacks ahead 37-35 with 51 seconds left in the half.

Arkansas took a 6-3 lead as Thomas scored inside and hit two free throws and Steven Hill hit a layup.

The Tigers moved ahead 16-11 as Tolbert, Robertson and Barrett each hit three-point baskets.

Beverley’s three-pointer tied it for Arkansas at 18-18 with 12: 34 left in the half.

Auburn outscored the Razorbacks 10-2 over a 2: 19 span, including a three-point basket by Prowell and a driving basket by Robertson after a stolen pass, to take a 28-20 lead.

Another Beverley three-pointer pulled Arkansas within 28-23 at the 9: 44 mark of the half.