FAYETTEVILLE -- Northwestern (La.) State came into Walton Arena on Sunday for what appeared to be just another nonconference tuneup game for the Arkansas men's basketball team.
The Demons ended up giving the Razorbacks 40 minutes of hell before Arkansas managed to salt away a 100-92 victory in front of a nervous crowd of 8,507.
"If you want scoring, you got it today," Arkansas Coach Mike Anderson said. "They were a good basketball team, and they gave us a good test. We were just glad to find a way to win."
Arkansas junior guard Michael Qualls and sophomore post Bobby Portis outdueled Northwest State's formidable guard/forward combination of Jalan West and Zeek Woodley to highlight the offensive show.
Qualls finished with 28 points, 7 rebounds and at least 3 highlight-worthy dunks for Arkansas (10-2), while Portis had his way inside against the smaller Demons (4-6) with 22 points and 12 rebounds. Qualls or Portis has led the Razorbacks in scoring in 11 of Arkansas' 12 games this season.
Sports on 12/29/2014
"Qualls had a nice game," Anderson said of the 6-6 junior. "He has been playing a high level for a while now, and you are starting to see the things that he can do."
West and Woodley combined for 46 points for Northwestern State, a member of the Southland Conference, where it competes against the University of Central Arkansas. West, the Demons' point guard, handled Arkansas' pressure well as he finished with seven assists and one turnover. Northwestern State had only seven turnovers in the game.
Arkansas led 48-39 at the half but couldn't put the game out of reach until the final minute. West was fouled while shooting a three-pointer with :42 left and made all three free throws to pull Northwestern State to within 98-92.
The Razorbacks managed to work the clock down to :22 before Qualls drew a foul and hit both free throws to set the final score.
"We saw a few things we need to work on, and we were a little slow coming out of the [Christmas] break," Anderson said. "That's how it goes sometimes. "
Arkansas hosts Utah Valley on Jan. 3 in its final nonconference game before opening SEC play Jan. 6 at Georgia.
Northwestern State beat the Razorbacks' pressure defense repeatedly, scoring most of its points off dunks, layups and short jumpers.
"It seemed like we were a step slow and they were getting the ball down the floor a little ahead of us," Qualls said. "We need to tighten up on defense for sure."
Solid guard play helped Northwestern State shoot 51.4 percent (36 of 70) while Arkansas controlled the boards with a 45-32 advantage.
Northwestern State Coach Mike McConathy said the Demons' plan was to keep the ball out of areas where the Hogs could apply pressure and attempt to keep it in the hands of West as much as possible.
"He played all 40 minutes and just had one turnover, so that's doing a pretty good job," McConathy said.
Arkansas was without Anton Beard. Anderson said Beard was held out after he rolled an ankle in the Razorbacks' first practice after the Christmas break.
"We don't think it's too bad, but we wanted to give him some time off and hopefully he will be back soon," Anderson said. "We missed him today in some of the things he can do defensively and in handling the basketball."
Ky Madden and Jacorey Williams score 12 points each for the Razorbacks. Madden made 4 of 7 three-point attempts and Williams had seven rebounds.
Northwestern State jumped out to a 7-0 lead, but Arkansas went up 14-13 with 15:14 to go in the first half but struggled to find any offensive consistency and gave up several easy buckets on the break.
Qualls injected some excitement into the arena with a soaring dunk, and Madden followed with a three-pointer on the next trip as the Hogs went up 31-23 with 5:56 to play in the half.
Arkansas took its largest lead when Qualls scored a layup with 1:28 to go before halftime to make it 46-32, but the Razorbacks didn't close out the half strong as Northwestern State cut the margin to 48-39 going into halftime.