ATLANTA —The last guy you would expect hit the gamewinning shot for Arkansas to topple No. 4 Tennessee.

Senior center Steven Hill, averaging 2. 9 points, hit his only basket of the game, a 6-foot jump shot with 5. 3 seconds left, to lift the Razorbacks to a 92-91 victory over the Volunteers on Saturday night in the SEC Tournament semifinals.

“I was probably the sixth option,” Hill said with a laugh. “They’d rather have anybody on the team shoot than me. But, hey, it happened.

“ I was just praying, just hoping it went in. It did. We had a couple of seconds for an offensive rebound if it didn’t.” There also was enough time for Chris Lofton, Tennessee’s senior sharpshooter and the SEC’s all-time leader in threepoint baskets with 421, to hit a game-winning shot.

But Lofton, who had a game-high 25 points, missed a three-point try at the buzzer that would have sent the Vols (29-4 ) to the SEC Tournament final for the first time since 1979.

“I got a good look,” Lofton said. “It just didn’t go down.” Instead Arkansas (22-10 ) is back in the SEC Tournament final for the second consecutive year and fifth time overall and is looking for its first title since winning four games in 2000.

The Razorbacks play at 2: 30 p.m. Central today against Georgia thanks to what Hill called the first game-winning shot he’s ever hit in his basketball career.

“Obviously I didn’t expect to take that shot — or any shot,” Hill said. “That’s not really my go-to move.” Hill doesn’t have a go-to move on offense. He’s known as a shot blocker, but for one night at least will be remembered as Arkansas ’ big shot maker.

“It’s a wonderful thing for him to get that ball and make that shot and have them advance,” Tennessee Coach Bruce Pearl said. “As a senior, I think that’s great for him.” Hill’s lone basket in his two shot attempts and Lofton’s lastsecond miss set off a wild celebration by the Razorbacks at Georgia Tech’s Alexander Memorial Coliseum, where the SEC Tournament moved Saturday after the Georgia Dome was damaged by a tornado.

Hill got mobbed again in the locker room by his teammates after he had done a television interview.

“The way those young men responded when he walked through the door was remarkable,” Arkansas Coach John Pelphrey said. “To me, that’s the coolest thing about the whole deal.” Hill said it was pretty cool, too.

“It was the best greeting I could have imagined,” he said. “They were all crazy, jumping all over me.

“ It was impressive the kind of emotion they put forward. It was really special.” Tennessee took a 91-90 lead on Ramar Smith’s layup with 20. 1 seconds left.

Arkansas was out of timeouts and had senior center Darian Townes and senior forward Sonny Weems — two of its top offensive players — on the bench because Pelphrey said they were exhausted and the team had been on defense trying to protect a 90-89 lead.

Arkansas senior guard Gary Ervin then rushed the ball up court and found the 7-0 Hill cutting across the lane covered by 6-8 sophomore Dwayne Chism.

“Gary stumbled a little bit, and I’m sure he saw some demons from the past,” Pelphrey said, referring to Ervin having turnover problems at times during his career. “But he hung in there and was able to get it to Steven, and Steven had the courage to try and make the play. He was aggressive and competed.” Hill said he heard Pelphrey say it’s now or never before hitting the basket resulting from Ervin’s seventh assist.

“I had a guy on my back, Gary got it to me and I just threw it up there,” Hill said. “I didn’t know what to think. But I saw it when it went down. That was all that mattered.” Hill’s basket marked the 17 th lead change of a game that also had 12 ties and was played at an NBA pace.

“It was great basketball back and forth,” Pearl said. “That was as good a college basketball game as there was in the country right there.” Arkansas senior forward Charles Thomas led the Razorbacks with a career-high 24 points and 10 rebounds. Sophomore guard Patrick Beverley added 17 points and Townes had 16.

Weems was held to seven points, but all came in the final six minutes to help the Razorbacks rally from a 74-65 deficit.

Tennessee sophomore forward Tyler Smith had 24 points and senior guard JaJuan Smith added 18, but the Razorbacks outrebounded the Vols 34-22, and outscored them 44-34 on points in the paint.

“It was very ironic that the only basket for Hill was the last one,” Pearl said. “But it’s the same kind of basket that they were beating us on all game.”