ANTHONY REYES Northwest Arkansas Times Arkansas junior center Michael Washington lays a shot in against Texas in the second half Tuesday in Bud Walton Arena. Washington had 22 points and nine rebounds in the Razorbacks' 67-61 win.

Courtney Fortson would rather forget his first half, two early fouls and subsequent benching against Texas.

His second half, though, was a little bit more appealing to the true freshman guard, who returned to the game and helped spark an 11-0 rally by Arkansas late that ultimately led to the Razorbacks' 67-61 upset of No. 7 Texas Tuesday night in front of 19,012 at Bud Walton Arena.

The first half was also frustrating for junior forward Michael Washington, who was benched for 11 minutes because of two fouls. With the two stars on the bench, the Hogs bided their time, built an early lead but fell behind for the final 8 minutes in the opening half.

The offense wasn't gelling, the Hogs hit just 29.4 percent of their shots. But Washington and Fortson were waiting in the wings, hoping for an offensive explosion.

"We knew if we kept attacking and do what we do, things would fall in place," Fortson said.

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His teammates, junior guard Stefan Welsh said, also understood and were patient as they waited in the wings.

"We understand that our floor general wasn't on the floor," Welsh said. "Probably one of the most dominant big men in college basketball wasn't on the floor, so we were just trying to hold on."

In the second half, Washington committed zero fouls against Texas' deep frontcourt, scored 15 of his game-high 22 points, and had the game-deciding dunk and free throw with 22.5 seconds remaining to give Arkansas a 65-61 lead it never relinquished.

"I thought, this team understands their roles and I thought Washington and [Michael] Sanchez were two very underrated players," Texas head coach Rick Barnes said. "There was no doubt in my mind we were going to guard the 3-point line. I was not worried about that at all. I was worried about the job those guys would do inside and Washington had a terrific game."

But the Longhorns, who held the Hogs to a respectable 5-of-18 beyond the arc, didn't guard the 3-point line when Washington had the ball. Washington hit a bouncing 3-pointer with 8:24 remaining and the shot clock winding down to cut a Texas advantage to three. The ball hit the far end of the basket, bounced in the air and swished the net.

"Basically I was just praying for it to go in," said Washington, who finished one rebound short of his eighth double-double of the season. "That's all I was doing."

"All of us was," Fortson interjected.

As for Fortson, who was averaging more than 7 assists a game, his 5 assists to 6 turnovers wasn't headturning. But his circus shots in the lane and 7-of-10 free throws were for the freshman, who finished with 13 points.

"My adrenaline was too high, obviously," Fortson said. "A lot of players would have let that first half mess up their ball plan, but I just threw it back and played the second half like I didn't remember the first half."

And there was high praise from the opposing coach, who compared Fortson to former Texas guard D.J. Augustin, who was drafted by Charlotte in the NBA draft last summer.

"You've got to have five guys getting ready to help," Barnes said. "The worst mistake you can make, and we did it a couple times, we gave him an angle."

And helped propel Arkansas to its second Top 10 upset in one week.