ATLANTA — With a possible NCAA Tournament bid at stake, the Arkansas Razorbacks finally got tough Friday, and the Hogs ’ intense attitude paid off with a 81-75 victory over the Vanderbilt Commodores in the quarterfinals of the Southeastern Conference Tour nament.

“ W hen it got tough, we finally made some tough plays, ” first-year Razorbacks coach John Pelphrey said following Friday’s victory at the Georgia Dome. “ I’ll be interested to see what happens tomorrow. ”

The victory pits the Hogs (21-10 ) against SEC regular-season champion Tennessee in today’s semifinals. The Vols held off a determined South Carolina squad with a late-game 3-pointer by guard Chris Lofton in an 89-87 quarterfinal victory.

Tennessee (29-3 ) defeated the Razorbacks, 93-71, in their regular-season meeting at Knoxville, Tenn., on Feb. 13.

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“ Tennessee is awesome, ” Pelphrey said. “ They are a tall, tall challenge, one we didn’t face very well at Knoxville. They are a great, great team and we have our work cut out for us. ”

Neither Pelphrey nor the Razorbacks admitted they were relieved to notch the victory because of the NCAA Tournament implications, but they were obviously pleased to have that worry erased.

“ Our goal is to keep winning, ” Gary Ervin said. “ We missed out on winning the overall and the Western Division championship. We would like to cut the nets down here. ”

Pelphrey congratulated his players for their team effort and that play helped them advance in front of a crowd of 18, 200, despite a scoring effort of just 3 points by All-SEC guard Sonny Weems.

Five Razorbacks scored in double figures in their fifth consecutive victory over Vandy with Gary Ervin and Darian Townes leading the way with 18 apiece. Charles Thomas came out of scor ing funk with 13 and Patrick Beverley and Stefan Welsh added 11 each.

Alex Gordon hit 6 of 11 shots, including 5 of 10 3-pointers, to lead Vanderbilt (26-7 ) with 22. Vandy big man A. J. Ogilvy scored 14, but did most of his damage in the first half when Steven Hill was on the bench with foul trouble.

The Razorbacks did a fine job of holding SEC Player of the Year Shan Foster to just 14 points. He hit just 4 of 10 shots and did not hit his first basket until 7: 38 left in the first half.

“ We can’t expect Shan to be Superman every night, ” Vanderbilt coach Kevin Stallings said of his star. “ But he is on most nights.

“ Arkansas plays with a different confidence against us than I see when they play other teams.

“ Their length at the basket and their athleticism at guard gives us trouble. We’ve never played well against Ervin. ”

But the key to the game was the Razorbacks’ overall ruggedness. Arkansas outrebounded Vanderbilt, 45-24, including 22 offensive rebounds, which is just two under the Hogs’ seasonhigh. Townes and Beverley each had 7 rebounds with Thomas and Weems grabbing 6 each.

The Razorbacks also showed their grit by diving for loose balls, handling Vanderbilt’s late-game traps and most importantly knocking down free throws.

The Hogs hit 12 of 14 free throws in the final 1: 35 to lock the contest up, showing their mental toughness.

“ There are so many good players and so many good coaches in this league, that I think so many of the games just come down to toughness, ” Pelphrey said. “ I hate the term, ‘ Who wants it more. ’ But sometimes that’s it. ”

Foster heated up early in the second half, dropping in back-toback baskets to tie the game at 48-all with 15: 23 remaining, but he again faded.

“ We made Foster a dribble-and-drive guy, which is what you want from him, ” Pelphrey said.

Townes countered with a free throw and a basket for a 51-48 advantage with 14: 12 to play.

Ervin burned the Commodores with an old-fashioned 3-point play by beating Vandy’s backcourt down the floor in transition.

Ervin penetrated and flipped in a basket for a 60-58 lead to cap a possession where Arkansas grabbed four offensive rebounds at 8: 21.

The senior guard then canned a trey at 7: 12 for a 63-58 Arkansas lead, and after a Razorback defensive stand Charles Thomas drove for a 65-58 lead with 4: 55 to play.

Foster missed a 3-pointer and Ogilvy fouled Hill over his back on the rebound, but the Hogs could not take advantage and Gordon canned a 3-pointer from the top of the key to draw Vandy within 65-63 with 3: 29 to play.

With 1: 50 to play Foster made an excellent defensive stand, holding Weems for a 5-second violation, but Hill equaled it, swatting Ogilvy’s shot at the other end.

Beverley sank two free throws with 1: 35 to play to build Arkansas’ lead to 69-64, which started the Hogs ’ string of 12 of 14 made freebies to lock up the game.