Box Score Final Statistics

LITTLE ROCK, Ark. – Jarekious Bradley scored 17 points and Southeast Missouri (5-6) played a strong second half in an 84-67 loss to Southeastern Conference power Arkansas (8-2) Saturday night.
 
Southeast fell behind by 17 points at the half, but tied Arkansas, 39-39, in the game's final 20 minutes. The Redhawks played in front of a raucous crowd of 11,375 at Verizon Arena.
 
"I was proud of the way we played," said Southeast head coach Dickey Nutt. "Arkansas is a very good team and we hung with them tonight. We started slow, but played much better in the second half."
 
The Redhawks started the second half by hitting six of their first nine shots. That burst fueled a 14-4 run that quickly cut the Razorbacks lead to seven.
 
J.J. Thompson knocked down a pair of threes and Nino Johnson added six more points during the surge. Johnson threw down a dunk on back-to-back possessions and scored a layup that made it a 49-42 game with 15:17 left.
 
Southeast pulled to within seven again, this time when Jarekious Bradley's jumper narrowed the gap to 51-44 at the 13:37 mark. That, however, was as close as the Redhawks would get.
 
Arkansas answered Bradley's basket with a 20-7 run to open a 20-point lead and never looked back the rest of the way.
 
Michael Qualls scored seven of the final nine points in that stretch which ended in a Bobby Portis jumper giving the Razorbacks a 71-51 advantage at the 6:28 mark.
 
Qualls later converted a three-point play to give Arkansas its biggest lead of the night at 80-57 with 3:46 remaining.
 
Southeast hung tough with Arkansas for the game's opening 4:33 before the Razorbacks built their halftime lead.
 
After Bradley made a layup to tie the game at 10-10 with 15:27 left to play, Arkansas countered with a 13-2 run over the next 4:36.
 
A steal and dunk by Portis ignited the surge, as the Redhawks missed four field goals and had four turnovers during that stretch. Kingsley Moses scored four of the last seven points, including a jumper that widened Arkansas' lead to 23-12 with 10:51 remaining.
 
Bradley later chopped Arkansas' lead to seven (30-23) before the Razorbacks outscored the Redhawks, 15-5, in the last 5:19 to take their 45-28 lead at the break. Anthlon Bell scored eight-straight points in a span of 1:23 prior to the intermission.
 
Portis finished with a game-high 24 points and grabbed nine rebounds in 28 minutes to lead Arkansas. Qualls, who scored all of his points in the second half, followed with 15 and Bell added 12.
 
The Razorbacks shot 50 percent (28-of-56) from the field, scoring 24 of their points off 17 Southeast turnovers.
 
Bradley shot 7-of-17 from the field and pulled down five rebounds to lead the Redhawks. Antonius Cleveland also contributed 13 points and Johnson registered a double-double 12 points and 11 boards.
 
Nutt, born in Little Rock, returned home as Southeast's head coach for the first time. Freshman guard Marcus Wallace, also a Little Rock native, scored two points in 11 minutes off the bench.
 
In addition, Southeast shot a season-high 81.8 percent (18-of-22) at the free throw line. The Redhawks missed only one free throw in the second half, hitting 11-of-12 attempts.
 
Southeast faces its second SEC opponent in three days when it hooks up with Ole Miss in Southaven, Miss., on Dec. 22.