ATHENS, Ga. -- Georgia hardly had seen a lead it couldn't blow in the second half this season.
Until Saturday.
The University of Arkansas twice pulled within a point down the stretch after trailing by as many as 18 points, but this time the Bulldogs had an answer.
Georgia, led by freshman Anthony Edwards and senior Tyree Crump, made a series of key three-pointers, shot 56.7% from the floor and pulled away late in a 99-89 victory before a sellout crowd of 10,017 at Stegeman Coliseum.
Arkansas (18-11, 6-10 SEC) struggled to keep the Bulldogs (15-14, 5-11) from penetrating into the lane for major parts of the game, then did not close out well enough on their three-point shooters. The Razorbacks, who had won two in a row since the return of shooting guard Isaiah Joe, suffered a serious blow to their NCAA Tournament resume.
"It's a huge loss," said Joe, who scored 26 points to tie teammate Mason Jones and Edwards for game-high honors. "I mean, we all have aspirations after the SEC Tournament. Losing games like this just makes them very slim."
Arkansas Coach Eric Musselman shrugged off a question about Arkansas' at-large hopes.
"We've just got to worry about our next game," Musselman said. "That stuff is whatever it is."
Georgia Coach Tom Crean opened his postgame remarks by thanking the huge crowd, the Bulldogs' 10th of 10,000 or more this season.
"At the end of the day, when we had to get the stops and we had to get the finishes, our crowd went to another level," Crean said. "That's what you envision when you have a desire to build a program."
Arkansas guard Desi Sills came off the bench to score a career-high 21 points, but he said it hardly mattered since the Razorbacks could not get over the hump in their comeback bid.
"It's a big loss," Sills said. "It cost us because we should have come out harder, and we should have won."
Georgia exceeded the scoring high for an Arkansas opponent this season by 13 points, when Western Kentucky beat Arkansas 86-79 in overtime on Dec. 7.
Jones got going in the second half with 22 of his points, most of them on a string of hard-driving layups against a succession of defenders. However, he crashed to the floor and stayed there after missing a shot in traffic with the Razorbacks trailing 87-84 and less than two minutes to play.
As he clutched at his left leg, the Bulldogs broke the other way and nailed a three-point shot -- his fourth of the half -- with 1:36 to play to give Georgia a 90-84 lead that would never drop under five points for the rest of the game.
Jones, who played nearly 37 minutes, finished the game on the bench. Musselman said he was not aware of Jones' condition during his postgame remarks, but a team source said he was dealing with cramps.
Rayshaun Hammonds got off to a hot start and finished with 22 points and 9 rebounds for the Bulldogs, while Crump added 14 points on 5-of-7 shooting.
"At the end of the day, we played soft I feel like," Sills said. "We all didn't buy in as a team tonight."
The Razorbacks made a couple of serious runs after trailing 47-39 at halftime. Jones hit the first couple of shots of the half on a driving layup and a three-pointer from the right wing to make it 47-44 before the Bulldogs eased back to an eight-point lead at 56-48 on Jordan Harris' steal and dunk at 14:45.
Arkansas used a 12-2 run to pull within 73-72. Jones had eight points in the spree, all on drives in the paint. Sills added a hard-charging layup, and Adrio Bailey finished the run with a dunk in transition at the 6:26 mark.
But Hammonds drove the right baseline, drew a fifth foul from Bailey and converted the three-point play to get the crowd back into a frenzy with Georgia ahead 76-72.
The game seesawed for a while before a fadeaway jumper from Joe and two free throws from Jalen Harris brought Arkansas back to within 83-82 with 2:46 remaining.
After Crump's driving layup, two free throws from Joe made it 85-84 at 2:13.
Georgia fans -- who had seen their team blow four leads of double figures in losses this season, including a 22-point lead at Florida and a 20-point lead at Missouri -- had to be wondering whether another collapse was imminent.
But the Bulldogs had another hot streak left.
Crump's dribble-drive set up Hammonds for an easy lay-in, then Crump drilled a three-pointer and Edwards made two free throws to stretch the lead to 92-84.
"We had poor transition defense," said Musselman, before pointing out the Razorbacks' three consecutive lousy starts on the road. "It's hard to win on the road in this conference. It's hard to win on the road in any conference. You've got to come out from the opening tip and be aggressive and play with toughness.
"I thought Georgia did a great job. We dug ourselves too big a hole early in the game. And then foul trouble continually with our bigs. It's every game."
Georgia made six of its first eight shots to blast off to a 14-0 lead. Hammonds scored seven points in the scorching start and capped the run with a three-pointer from the top of the circle.
"You can't get down that amount of points and feel like you're going to be able to come back and win," Joe said. "We ended up getting back in the game in the second half and cutting it within one, but then we started trading baskets at the end of the game.
"Once they started pulling that lead, they had the crowd behind them and they were all hot, so we can't put ourselves in that predicament again."
The Bulldogs were 15 of 20 from the field en route to opening their largest lead of the game at 36-18 after Edwards hit a 19-foot jumper and followed it with a 24-foot three-pointer from the top of the circle.
Game sketch
RECORDS Arkansas 18-10, 6-9 SEC; Georgia 14-14, 4-11
STARS Georgia freshman Anthony Edwards (26 points), junior Rayshaun Hammonds (22 points). Arkansas guards Isaiah Joe and Mason Jones (26 points apiece)
KEY STAT Georgia hit 38 of 67 shots (56.7%), including 10 of 23 (43.5%) from three-point range.
UP NEXT Arkansas hosts LSU at 6 p.m. on Wednesday.
Sports on 03/01/2020