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UA, Portis thrive, drive 11,375 wild in one show

Arkansas's Bobby Portis (10) tries to get around Southeast Missouri State's Aaron Adeoye (24) in the second half of an NCAA college basketball game in North Little Rock, Ark., Saturday, Dec. 20, 2014. Arkansas defeated Southeast Missouri State 84-67. (AP Photo/Danny Johnston)

NORTH LITTLE ROCK - Arkansas played in front of its largest announced home crowd of the season Saturday night and the Razorbacks gave the 11,375 fans at Verizon Arena in North Little Rock a lot of plays to cheer in their 84-67 victory over Southeast Missouri State.

The Razorbacks’ largest crowd in six Fayetteville games this season is 9,270 for Dayton.

“It’s a different atmosphere in Little Rock than it is in Fayetteville,” said Arkansas senior forward Alandise Harris, who is from Little Rock Central. “The fans are wilder in Little Rock.

“They don’t get to see us. We only come here one time a year, so we’ve got to put on a show in Little Rock.”

Sophomore forward Bobby Portis, from Little Rock Hall, was the ring leader for the Razorbacks (8-2) with 24 points, 9 rebounds and 2 steals.

“It was a crazy environment to go out and play in front of these fans,” said Portis, who hit 9 of 14 shots, including a three-pointer to open the game and a basket at the outset of the second half to put Arkansas up 47-28.

“Portis is a handful because he can stretch the defense and he’s hard to guard,” Southeast Missouri State Coach Dickey said. “He really is a pro player.”

It wasn’t all fun for Arkansas, and it wasn’t always easy.

Southeast Missouri State outscored Arkansas 14-2 to cut the lead to 49-42, and it was 59-45 when three technicals recharged the crowd.

SEMO forward Nino Johnson, guarded tightly by Portis, scored to make it 59-47 at 9:45 and the two pushed and shoved.

Officials called offsetting technicals on Portis and Johnson, but senior guard Ky Madden tried to intervene, rushing in to make contact with Johnson.

The technicals on Johnson and Portis canceled each other out, but Southeast Missouri State got two free throws as a result of Madden’s technical, and Jarekious Bradley hit two free throws to pull the Redhawks within 59-49.

“To be honest, I don’t know what happened,” Portis said with a smile. “He [Johnson] hit me so hard, I forgot.”

Arkansas quickly regained control, moving ahead 69-51 with 6:28 left as Arkansas junior guard Michael Qualls scored eight consecutive points on a three-point basket and five made free throws.

Qualls, from Shreveport, said it was evident the fans were excited to see Portis.

“The kids just saw him playing in high school and middle school not too long ago, and now he’s turned into a big-time player,” Qualls said. “For him to turn into that in front of their eyes, I know it was special.”

Nutt, who is from Little Rock and a former Arkansas State coach, said the crowd was impressive.

“It was a happening tonight, and it didn’t matter who was here playing against Arkansas,” Nutt said. “It’s impressive they came out to see the Hogs.

“They were into it. They were loud. It wasn’t like they were just sitting here watching they show. They let their guys know that they’re appreciate of hard work.

“As a coach, you can’t help but envy that.”

Arkansas Coach Mike Anderson said he loves playing in central Arkansas.

“The people here obviously are true Razorbacks,” he said. “They don’t get a chance to see us play a whole lot, and for all 40 minutes there’s energy going through the building.”

Qualls was especially electric in the second half, when he scored all 15 of his points and was 3 of 4 from the field and hit 8 of 9 free throws. In the first half, he had four turnovers and was 0 of 2 from the field.

“The first half I thought he was just kind of a step slow,” Anderson said. “He wasn’t connected with the other guys, but it was good to see him have a bounce-back second half.

“I thought he played with energy, and he let the game come to him. He started exerting himself on defense, and that triggered his offense. He got in the attack mode we talk about.”

Nutt said the Redhawks (5-6) did a good job of keeping Qualls in check in the first half, but then he was able to penetrate and draw fouls.

“That got him going, once he started getting to the basket,” Nutt said.

Qualls said assistant coach T.J. Cleveland talked to him at halftime about staying confident.

“Everything is bound to happen eventually,” Qualls said. “It’s just about maintaining and keeping focus.”

Qualls scored eight consecutive points to push Arkansas’ lead to 69-51 with 6:28 left after the Redhawks had cut a 19-point deficit to 59-49.

Senior forward Bradley led Southeast Missouri State with 17 points. Sophomore guard Antonius Cleveland had 13 points.

“I was proud of our team,” Nutt said. “I thought we played with a lot of fight and gave them a little bit of a scare there.”

Arkansas junior guard Anthlon Bell scored 12 points, including eight in the final 1:23 of the first half, capped by a three-point basket with four seconds left coming out of a timeout.

“Coach drew it up, and all the players out there did their jobs perfectly,” Qualls said. “It’s nice to see that, because we’re a fast-paced team and we don’t really draw up a lot of plays like a lot of other teams do.

“ I just think that showed everybody we can craw up plays, we can execute. We can do all that type of stuff — we just don’t like to.”

Bell’s run pushed Arkansas’ lead to 45-28 at halftime.

Sports on 12/21/2014