Former Arkansas shooting guard C.J. Jones knocked down a corner three-pointer to send No. 6 seed Team Arkansas to a 74-70 victory over the No. 11 seed Fort Worth Funk in the opening round of the Wichita Regional at The Basketball Tournament on Friday afternoon at Koch Arena in Wichita, Kan.
The game-winner capped a perfect outing for Jones, who went 6 of 6 from the floor to finish with 16 points. Team Arkansas, which got a game-high 23 points and 12 rebounds from Jaylen Barford, led by as many as 11 points in the first half but needed a second-half rally to advance.
Dusty Hannahs added 14 points and four assists.
Team Arkansas will face Team Challenge ALS on Sunday at 1 p.m. on ESPN3 in the second round of the $1 million tournament.
J.D. Miller scored 20 points and grabbed eight rebounds, and Alex Robinson ended with 14 points, 7 rebounds and 6 assists for Fort Worth, which trailed 40-30 at halftime before using a big third-quarter rally to take a lead.
Forth Worth still led 57-52 with 7:58 to go before Jones’ three-pointer started a 14-1 run to give Team Arkansas a 66-58 lead at the 3:47 mark.
The tournament is using the Elam Ending rules, which calls for the game clock to be turned off on the first whistle when there is four minutes or less remaining in the contest. The Elam Ending also directs the game to be played to a target score that is eight points more than what the team in the lead has at the initial stoppage.
Since Team Arkansas had 66 points at that point, it only needed to reach 74 points to pick up the victory.
A 12-4 surge by Fort Worth tied the game at 70-70. Hunter Mickelson put Team Arkansas back in front with a free throw on the next trip, then Jones ended the game with his three-pointer several possessions later.