BATON ROUGE — For at least a half, the first one, they were shooters instead of booters.

In the previous two games, losses to South Carolina and Georgia, the Arkansas Razorbacks suffered some mind-numbing unforced turnovers and at the same time shot badly from the field.

Saturday night, against perhaps the worst LSU team since John Brady became head coach, the Razorbacks started slow, hitting four of their first 11 shots, and then made 11 of their next 19.

In the opening act, Sonny Weems, literally, could not miss from the three-point line, ringing up 19 points mostly on the strength of going 5 for 5 from behind the arc.

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When Weems had 16 points, with 4: 27 to play in the first half, so did the entire LSU team.

More importantly, the Hogs had only five turnovers. They only had five assists, too, but they would trim that back to three in the second half while suffering 12 turnovers.

Maybe it was the Mardi Gras parade here or, more likely, it is the way the team has been playing, but the purple and gold stayed away in droves.

With 11: 12 to play, the small group of ladies primarily from southern Arkansas who follow the Hogs faithfully sent up a hog call that could actually be heard.

Brady, though, had a good strategy. With only eight scholarship players, he had his team milking the clock on every possession. Typically, that shortens the games and also can save some legs for the second half.

The Tigers made a quick 6-0 run to open the second half, and John Pelphrey grabbed a timeout. His team had missed its first four shots and suffered a turnover in the first two minutes.

Another Arkansas miss and a three by LSU, then a three by Stefan Welsh, but it was becoming obvious playing two good halves was not going to happen here Saturday night.

Before you could say oysters on the half shell, it was 42-34 and the Tigers were in control after a charge, the third turnover of the half.

Saying Pelphrey was upset would be like saying Brady is on the hot seat.

One of the things he has encountered in his first year as the Hogs’ head coach is a lack of fundamentals, like grabbing a rebound with two hands, which had helped the Tigers get a putback.

By the time the Hogs got their fifth turnover of the second half, the lead was lingering at eight.

They were being outhustled and outplayed.

This was a must-win game for the Hogs, and Pelphrey was on them like gumbo on rice.

They settled down and started executing their offense, something else they’ve struggled with lately, and Patrick Beverley got a three, Steven Hill — who has really played harder the last few games — got fouled and made two free throws and Darian Townes tipped in a miss. With 11: 57 to play, the Hogs were on top 51-38.

The Tigers, winless in SEC play this season, would not go quietly into the night, but Pelphrey was substituting in waves and Brady was doing so in trickles.

Substitute Alex Farrer scored seven consecutive points (he would stretch that to nine in a row ), and it was 55-45 after his uncontested three-pointer with 8: 13 to play.

LSU wasn’t out of gas, but the warning light was burning. The Razorbacks pulled back to a 17-point lead, and the Maravich Assembly Center started to empty.

After a very good first half, the Razorbacks survived the second half when they made only 8 of 23 field-goal attempts.

Yet, they survived. The Razorbacks got the road victory and return home now for three consecutive games in Walton Arena, but it is against SEC West leader Mississippi State, Florida and Ole Miss.

It is not going to get any easier the rest of this season.

Saturday night was a mustwin game for the Razorbacks, and thanks to their best first half since starting SEC play, they are in sole possession of second place in the West.

To move up or even stay there, they have to be shooters instead of booters.