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Weems finds a way to contribute despite missed shots Published: Sunday, February 10, 2008 PRINT E-MAIL FAYETTEVILLE — Sonny Weems’ outside shot was off, but the rest of his game was on against Ole Miss on Saturday at Walton Arena. Weems, Arkansas’ leading scorer who had made 13 of 19 three-pointers during a threegame winning streak, missed his first six tries from long distance against Ole Miss. Even as he struggled to find his shooting touch, though, Weems said he remained confident he could help Arkansas push its winning streak to four. “There’s a lot more things other than scoring that you can do, and I think I did that,” Weems said. Weems finished with a teamhigh 22 points despite 2-of-9 three-point shooting. He also had a season-high 10 rebounds, 4 assists and 2 steals to go with 3 turnovers in 36 minutes of Arkansas’ 75-69 victory.
“As good players do, you take away one option and they have others,” Ole Miss Coach Andy Kennedy said of Weems. While Weems didn’t get untracked from long range, he made 8 of 11 shots inside the three-point arc on a variety of moves. None was bigger than his driving layup that gave the Razorbacks a 72-67 lead with 20 seconds remaining. Ole Miss had used an 11-2 run to put the outcome in jeopardy, and Arkansas let the shot clock wind down before Weems took a pass near the top of the key. With the shot clock showing fewer than 10 seconds, Darian Townes made a move to set a pick for Weems near the free-throw line. “He was looking for the pick... so I just kind of faked the pick and went the other way,” Weems said of Rebels guard Eniel Polynice. Weems then beat center Dwayne Curtis and forward Kenny Williams to the basket for the layup and what Arkansas Coach John Pelphrey called a “big bigtime play.” Kennedy, who recruited Weems while at Cincinnati, said Weems’ big-time play this season has made Arkansas a more dangerous team. “Sonny Weems has taken his game to another level,” Kennedy said. “Obviously, with that, their team has gone to another level.” Pelphrey said he urged Weems to stay aggressive despite the cold shooting start, just in different ways. “Sonny’s been on such a tear here... I give him a little bit of rope,” Pelphrey said. “But where he’s special, where he’s different, is when he ball-fakes and drives the ball. He’s just bigger and more athletic.” Pelphrey reminded Weems of that and told the 6-6 senior swingman he was making himself easy to guard by settling for long jump shots. Weems still had an impact offensively, scoring on a steal and layup, a putback, a layup and a baseline jumper as Arkansas led 23-12. Weems finally hit his first three-pointer, to make the score 34-29 at halftime, from deep in the corner. In the second half, Weems made another three-pointer, this one to answer a three by Ole Miss’ David Huertas and help Arkansas hold a 48-43 lead. Weems added another long jumper and a tip-in before getting his last score in dramatic fashion. “He kind of broke our momentum sometimes when we were getting back into it and everything, then he’d step up and make a shot and slow us down a little bit,” Curtis said. “Second half, I just let the game come to me,” Weems said. “I just wanted to slow down and not try to rush anything.” In doing so, Weems delievered right on time for Arkansas. Yesterday's Most Popular 2. Exceptions rule Fayetteville High alums well represented at FCC match-play championship Today's Most E-mailed 1. LIKE IT IS : Football prognosticators ready to fire up fans 2. FIRECRACKER FAST 5K : Former Hog Forrest too fast for competition |
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