FAYETTEVILLE — Darian Townes jammed his jump hook through the nets repeatedly against one of the SEC’s best players on Sunday.

Arkansas’ big man had his inside game working so well he helped force Alabama into a zone defense that almost turned the game to the Crimson Tide at Walton Arena.

Townes shot a season-best 7 of 8 from the floor and tied his season high with 18 points to help Arkansas outlast Alabama 71-67 in overtime.

The seeds of Townes’ big game were sown during Arkansas’ 76-70 victory at Auburn on Thursday, a game in which Townes took just three shots and scored a season-low four points.

ADVERTISEMENT

“I just wanted to redeem myself from the Auburn game,” Townes said. “I think I didn’t come to play [against Auburn ]. I don’t think I played a great game, as I did today.”

Townes’ near-perfect shooting on Sunday came mostly against All-SEC junior Richard Hendrix.

“He got great position and he was doing that against a guy who’s legit,” Arkansas Coach John Pelphrey said. “Hendrix is a big, big-time player.”

Townes entered at the 16: 44 mark of the first half and popped his first baby hook through at the 15: 22 mark. Townes added a couple of steals on his first stint in the game, then dropped another jump hook at 12: 50 to give the Razorbacks their first 10-point lead at 18-8.

“I thought Townes did a good job of getting position too deep,” Alabama Coach Mark Gottfried said. “He was way too close to the basket. We didn’t do a good enough job of muscling and getting him out of there.”

Townes went 5 for 5 in the first half, including a rare turnaround jumper from 10 feet on the left baseline, and scored the last five Razorback points in the period to tally 12 by halftime.

“He just came out ready to play and on fire,” Alabama forward Demetrius Jemison said.

“I’ve always had a lot of respect for him,” Hendrix said of the 6-10 Townes, who has made 18 of his past 24 shots spanning 4 games. “He’s a good post player. He has a lot of moves and a nice shooting touch. They put him in situations he can score the ball and use his assets.”

After Townes threw down a dunk on a lob from Sonny Weems on the break, then converted a reverse layup to put the Hogs ahead 50-41 at the 11: 36 mark, Gottfried soon scrapped his man-to-man defense for the rest of the game.

“I think going man it’s hard to match up with us this year,” Arkansas forward Charles Thomas said. “You’ve got to credit Gottfried. He’s a great coach. He saw the problems and he went to the zone to try to slow us down a little.”

Arkansas converted just two field goals — three-pointers from Weems and Patrick Beverley — in the final 10: 46 of regulation.

Gary Ervin finally made the Tide pay by making a wideopen three-pointer with 1: 28 left in overtime that put Arkansas ahead for good.

“We had to make some adjustments to get more bodies around [Townes ] so they couldn’t score so easily,” Hendrix said. “Our strategy worked.

“[Gary ] Ervin hit a big shot down the stretch in overtime, but other than that, we’re one missed three-pointer away or one bounce here from extending our lead in overtime and walking out of here with a win.”