ANDY SHUPE Northwest Arkansas Times Arkansas freshman forward Michael Sanchez, right, steals the ball away from California-Davis senior guard Vince Oliver during the first half of play Thursday in Bud Walton Arena.

Staying below kept these young Razorbacks a cut above the University of California-Davis Thursday night at Walton Arena.

So with a disciplined defense defying its uptempo ways to close the backdoor layups from UC-Davis ’ Princeton-style offense, Arkansas takes a 68-59 victory and moves on to a couple of tough road games. Saturday night Arkansas opens Missouri State’s new JQH Arena in Springfield and Wednesday night in Mobile visits South Alabama, the school from which second-year Arkansas coach John Pelphrey left to become the Razorbacks ’ coach.

The Razorbacks have plenty on their plate for the road ahead, but at least postgame Thursday, Pelphrey was happy to dissect a game that maybe was no thrill-a-minute for spectators but mission accomplished for a young team asked defensively to do some things opposite of what it seeks against conventional offenses.

Backdoor layups and 3-point shots are the inside-outside bread and butter of the Princeton offense popularized by longtime Princeton coach Pete Carril.

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The Davis Aggies made 9 of 30 treys but found the back door locked nearly all game.

“ Their system is based on opening the back door with spacing, ” Pelphrey said. “ You go out there pressuring them, it plays into their hands. We stayed below them. I’m very proud. I don’t know how many clean layups they got because our guys did a good job. ”

Arkansas freshman point guard Courtney Fortson waxed prouder of the defense than tying Joe Harden, the Aggies’ transfer from Notre Dame, for game-high scoring honors with 16 each.

“ We wanted to front the post, ” Fortson, only 5-11, said of guarding the taller Aggies. “ And guard them under so they can’t back-door. Coach Pelphrey put in a great game plan and we stayed under their screens and it worked. ”

Despite abysmal outside shooting, 1 of 13 on treys including 0 for 3 from freshman sharpshooter Rotnei Clarke, Arkansas got balanced scoring with Fortson’s 16, Stefan Welsh’s 14, freshman forward Michael Sanchez’s 12-points / 12 rebounds double-double, and junior forward Michael Washington’s 11 points.

Arkansas outboarded the taller Aggies 44-29 though that didn’t surprise Pelphrey given UC-Davis’ perimeter nature.

Sanchez and Fortson were especially prominent when Arkansas took control with a 9-0 first-half run for a lead the Hogs never relinquished, though the Aggies did slice a lead as large as 17 in the first half to as low as four in the second.

The Aggies only trailed Arkansas, 63-57 with 3: 11 left.

Welsh made 1 of 2 free throws at 2: 47 and the Hogs clinched it when the Aggies ’ Adam Malik missed a trey at one end at 1: 10 and Clarke laid it on the other at 1: 06.

“ We just kept climbing up the mountain and climbing up the mountain, ” Aggies coach Gary Stewart said. “ Finally we get a 3 with 3: 11 left to make it a two-possession game and you just can’t put nine field goals made in 20 minutes and expect to win on the road. We hurried some opportunities, and some other opportunities I felt like their defense really made the difference. ”

So did Pelphrey.

“ I am very happy to get the win, ” Pelphrey said. “ Because this system we played against is difficult. ”

Other than the gameopening trey by UC-Davis ’ Kyle Brucculeri, Arkansas controlled the entire first-half scoreboard and led 36-27 at intermission after a peak of 33-16.

Going inside after two missed treys, the Hogs responded to the Brucculeri trey with a 9-0 run.

The Hogs had their first double-digit lead, 13-3, on Washington’s bucket at 14: 04 and had UC-Davis calling timeout on two straight Welsh feeds for Sanchez baskets, the second making it 22-10.

Fortson’s trey, Arkansas ’ lone trey of the half, capped another 9-0 run for the 33-16 lead at 3: 56 before Brucculeri’s trey and some good inside moves by Harden got Davis within eight before Fortson sank 1 of 2 freebies with 18 seconds left for the 36-27 halftime lead.

Pelphrey got slapped with a second-half technical foul when Washington was called for fouling Harden on a 3-point attempt.

Arkansas got it once more to double digits before thwarting the Aggies’ last run.