FAYETTEVILLE -- Moses Kingsley, Dusty Hannahs and Manny Watkins had witnessed LSU and South Carolina ruining senior days for the Arkansas Razorbacks the last couple of seasons.
They were determined not to let Georgia do the same on their senior day Saturday afternoon at Walton Arena.
The three did their part, combining for 42 points on 16 of 28 shooting as the University of Arkansas, Fayetteville dumped the Bulldogs 85-67 in a regular season finale that likely cemented an NCAA Tournament at-large berth for the Razorbacks.
"Those seniors, I thought it was their night and it was fitting that they went out playing well," Arkansas Coach Mike Anderson said.
Kingsley and Hannahs scored 15 points each, while Watkins added 12 points on 6 of 8 shooting. Kingsley contributed 9 rebounds, 2 blocked shots and a pair of assists, including a feed to Watkins for a left-hand layup that represented the final field goal for the regulars to put Arkansas up 81-60 in the closing minutes.
"We just have to enjoy this one," Kingsley said. "I know I'm going to enjoy it. We worked hard for this."
The trio engaged in a humorous debate at the post-game interview podium as to who might have been crying in the locker room before the game.
"Coach always talks to the seniors and says a little something about them," Hannahs said. "He came to me, Moses and Manny, and me and Moses were cool. We were good, and then Manny just, you know, the waterworks and the slobber and the snot was just all over the locker room.
"That was really the emotion. It was really emotional at that point. Me and Mo were ready to hoop and then my man [Watkins] watched The Notebook right before senior night."
Watkins shook his head repeatedly and said "not true" a few times while his roommate Hannahs made the comments about him crying.
"It was about the win," Watkins said. "Out of these guys, I'm the strong one. I have to keep my emotions because these guys can get kind of crying and stuff. So I had to keep it level.
"I had to let them know that it's not about us, stop crying, we're good, let's win this game, and I got them focused. We took care of business."
Kingsley just laughed at his classmates' antics.
"Manny emphasized it's about the win," Kingsley said. "It's not about us, it's about getting the win. We knew we needed this win to get where we wanted to go."
LSU broke the No. 18 Razorbacks' hearts with an 81-78 victory on Keith Hornsby's three-pointer at the buzzer in the regular season finale at Walton Arena on March 7, 2015. Last season, South Carolina put on a shooting and defensive clinic in its 76-61 victory at Walton on March 5.
The same kind of damper would not be attached to this senior day, even though Georgia led by six points in the first half and was within 38-37 at halftime.
The play of the seniors helped Arkansas pull away after halftime. Kingsley blocked a Juwan Parker layup on the first sequence of the second half, leading to Jaylen Barford's three pointer.
A few moments later, after the Hogs forced a turnover, Hannahs cashed in with another three-pointer on a pass from Barford and the Razorbacks led 48-39 en route to holding a comfortable double-figure lead for most of the second half.
Kingsley came up one rebound short of a double-double in his final game at Walton Arena.
"He produced for us in his last game at Bud Walton," Hannahs said. "We all did and that just makes it that much cooler."
Sports on 03/05/2017