SEC champs not sharp, but beat Razorbacks

TUSCALOOSA, Ala. (AP) -- Arkansas focused on stopping Erwin Dudley and Mo Williams, and got burned by reserve Antoine Pettway.

Pettway scored 14 points and Dudley had 11 points and 14 rebounds as No. 4 Alabama began defense of its Southeastern Conference title with a 61-51 win over the Razorbacks on Wednesday night.

"We had to pick our poison, and we just really felt we had to key in on Dudley and Williams,'' first-year Arkansas coach Stan Heath said. "We had to take away those guys. If somebody else was going step it up, that's the way it's going to go.''

The strategy worked, to a point.

The Crimson Tide (11-1), which had lost four of the last five meetings, survived a 38 percent shooting performance mostly because the Razorbacks (5-7) were even worse in the SEC opener for both teams.

It was a rematch of sorts for the Tide. Heath led Kent State to an upset of Alabama in the second round of last season's NCAA Tournament.

"All I could think about was Kent State,'' Williams said jokingly.

Arkansas closed to 27-25 on Carl Baker's 3-pointer with 16:45 left in the second half. Then, the Tide got two 3-pointers apiece from Pettway and Williams in a five-minute span to key an 18-6 run.

"We felt like our intensity level just dropped,'' Williams said. "The guys were popping up catching the ball and running their offense.

"At the time, our defense was not giving us anything, and we needed that intensity on offense. Those shots got us going a little bit, got us pumped up and ready to defend.''

The Razorbacks, which shot just 35 percent and made 12-of-22 free throws, couldn't come closer than eight points after that and lost its third straight game.

Alabama coach Mark Gottfried will gladly take the win, however sloppy it was.

"They all count the same,'' Gottfried said. "Wins in this league are hard to come by. Our defense was the difference in the game.

"In the second half, I thought our offense was a lot better.''

Pettway hit 4-of-7 3-points as the Tide got 27 points off the bench.

Kendrick Davis led Arkansas with 13 points while Jonathon Modica and Dionisio Davis had 10 points apiece. Gomez and Modica also had three steals each.

The Razorbacks' seven losses have come to teams with a combined record of 67-15.

"This was our best road game of the year by far,'' Heath said. "We had good focus, we had great energy level and we had guys contributing off the bench.''

Both teams had long shooting droughts in the first half, but Arkansas' was the worst at the end. The Razorbacks missed their final nine shots of the half as Alabama built a 25-17 lead.

Alonzo Lane capped a 12-2 run with a reverse layup with 8:30 left for a 16-11 lead, the last Razorbacks field goal of the half.

Emmett Thomas and Kenny Walker hit two quick baskets inside and Pettway had two 3-pointers as the Tide closed on a 14-1 run.

Kennedy Winston, the state's Mr. Basketball last year, did his part to spark an inconsistent Tide offense. The 6-foot-7 forward had four points, two assists and forced two turnovers in his first five minutes.

Winston had missed the first 11 games while the NCAA reviewed improper benefits he allegedly received while playing AAU basketball.

"I thought he did real well,'' Gottfried said. "I wanted to get him right in there. It's hard for him to step in there.

"He knows we were 10-1 and playing pretty good so he doesn't want disrupt things, but he's got to find his niche.''