STARKVILLE, Miss. -- Arkansas won five SEC road games in Coach Mike Anderson's first three seasons.
Combined.
This season the Razorbacks have done it in seven games.
Arkansas pulled out another close game with a 65-61 victory over Mississippi State on Saturday at Humphrey Coliseum before an announced crowd of 6,254.
The No. 18 Razorbacks (22-5, 11-3 SEC) extended their winning streak to six games and improved to 5-2 on the road in conference play. They are 6-2 in SEC games decided by five or fewer points.
"We found a way to escape, and that's what you've got to do," Anderson said. "It wasn't pretty, but I've never seen an ugly win."
With games remaining at No. 1 Kentucky and South Carolina, the Razorbacks are assured of finishing with their first winning record in SEC road games since 1995 when Arkansas' defending national championship team went 5-3.
"Of course it's a big thing," Arkansas junior guard Michael Qualls said. "We're not shying away from it. We accept it, but at the same time we want to stay humble and hungry."
Qualls and freshman point guard Anton Beard combined to hit 5 of 6 free throws in the final 26.7 seconds to help the Razorbacks clinch the victory.
After Qualls hit 1 of 2 free throws to put Arkansas ahead 60-59, Beard came up with a loose ball on a turnover by Mississippi State forward Gavin Ware, was fouled and hit two free throws with 12 seconds left.
Craig Sword hit two free throws to pull the Bulldogs to within 63-61, then Qualls hit two free throws with 6.8 seconds left for the final margin.
In Arkansas' 74-69 loss at Tennessee earlier this season, Beard missed three free throws with five seconds left and the Razorbacks trailing by three points.
"I did think about Tennessee, but my teammates believed in me, my coach believed in me," Beard said. "I just went up there and took my time and shot them with confidence."
Anderson said he wasn't surprised Beard hit the clutch free throws.
"He's starting now. He's supposed to do that," Anderson said. "So I'm glad to see him do it."
Beard has hit 13 of 17 free throws since the Tennessee loss, including 6 of 6 Saturday.
"He's a winner, so quite naturally a guy like that is going to work on it," Anderson said. "He understands he's going to be in situations where he's got to knock free throws down."
After Arkansas trailed by eight points in the first half and 33-32 at halftime, the Razorbacks took the lead for good at 56-54 on two free throws by sophomore forward Bobby Portis with 5:26 left.
A dunk by Portis with 44 seconds left on a long pass from Alandise Harris pushed Arkansas' lead to 60-54.
Mississippi State pulled to within 60-59 on Sword's three-point basket and Roquez Johnson's layup, but Qualls and Beard made sure the Bulldogs couldn't regain the lead.
Beard said he fell on the play where Mississippi State had a chance to tie the score or go ahead.
"They drove to the hole, and I fell real hard," he said. "I wasn't going to go for it, but then I thought in my mind if I didn't go for it, we probably were going to lose.
"I saw it in the air and just went for it."
Senior guard Ky Madden led Arkansas with 16 points. Qualls scored 14 points.
Portis -- despite missing practice the past two days because of illness -- had 13 points, 9 rebounds and 4 blocked shots in 28 minutes before fouling out. Beard had 11 points, 2 assists and 1 turnover in 27 minutes while making his seventh consecutive start.
Sword led Mississippi State (12-15, 5-9) with 15 points. Ware had 13 points and nine rebounds.
The Bulldogs shot 2 of 9 from the field and had six turnovers in the final eight minutes when the Razorbacks switched to zone defense.
"It changed the rhythm of the game," Anderson said. "Our guys did a good job of identifying their shooters and keeping Gavin Ware from posting us up."
The Bulldogs kept missing jump shots.
"We just couldn't get a good look at the rim because they were contesting everything," Sword said.
Mississippi State had 23 turnovers playing without starting point guard I.J Ready, a sophomore from Little Rock Parkview who was sidelined by an ankle injury.
"Our inability to take care of the basketball is really killing us," Bulldogs Coach Rick Ray said. "We don't give ourselves a chance to win a game like this when we have 23 turnovers, and some of them at really crucial times."
The Bulldogs started 10 of 16 from the field in jumping out to a 23-15 lead with 7:34 left in the first half.
"Mississippi State came out ready to play," Anderson said. "They threw a punch at the beginning, and we were able to withstand it.
"The second half we came out with much more energy and had some runs that we always talk about. Maybe not the big run, but we had enough to enable us to win the game."
Sports on 02/22/2015