Young's 26 leads Arkansas past Demons

NWA Media/MICHAEL WOODS --12/29/2012-- University of Arkansas guard BJ Young drives to the hoop past Northwestern State forward DeQuan Hicks during the first half of Saturday night's game against the Demons at Bud Walton Arena in Fayetteville.

— BJ Young scored 26 points and Arkansas defeated Northwestern State 79-61 Saturday at Bud Walton Arena.

Young added a career-high 13 rebounds to record his second career double-double. He also had seven assists one game after recording a career-high nine assists for the Razorbacks (8-4).

Arkansas outscored the Demons 20-8 in the final 7 minutes, 56 seconds to pull away with the victory.

Northwestern State had cut Arkansas' lead to 47-44 with 13:47 remaining, but could get no closer. Kikko Haydar hit a 3-pointer to extend Arkansas' lead to 50-44.

Arkansas coach Mike Anderson recaps the Razorbacks'  79-61 victory over Northwestern State.

Mike Anderson - Northwestern State Postgame

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In the first half, Northwestern State got a buzzer-beating bucket from Gary Roberson to cut Arkansas' halftime lead to 36-29. Arkansas guard Mardracus Wade had 14 points before the intermission and finished with a season-high 17, making 7 of his 8 shot attempts.

Marshawn Powell had scored in double figures for six-straight games, but the Demons held him to nine points. The redshirt junior was held scoreless in the first half after playing just six minutes because of foul trouble.

Hunter Mickelson took up some of the slack, finishing with 13 rebounds, more than doubling his previous career high. The sophomore forward also had 8 points.

Northwestern State only shot 27 percent, but had 29 more free throw attempts than Arkansas. The Demons were unable to capitalize, though, hitting only 26 of 42 from the line.

Ranked second nationally in points per game, Northwestern State (5-4) finished 25 points below its season average.

Arkansas has now won four straight games and will host Delaware State next Saturday before opening conference play on the road at Texas A&M.