Freshman Boogie Fland scored 17 points in his collegiate debut and No. 16 Arkansas’ defense down the stretch was the difference in a 76-60 win over Lipscomb on Thursday in Fayetteville, Ark., in the Razorbacks’ season opener.
It was the first game for Arkansas under coach John Calipari.
The Razorbacks led by 11 points at halftime and by 15 near the midpoint of the second half before Lipscomb rallied to within 60-56 with just under eight minutes remaining.
Arkansas was then bailed out by Zvonimir Ivisic, who canned a 3-pointer as the shot clock was set to expire and added three-point play to build the advantage back to 10 points with 5:54 to go.
From there, the Razorbacks cruised to the finish, as Lipscomb went more than seven minutes without a field goal until breaking the streak with 41 seconds to go.
Johnell Davis added 15 points for Arkansas (1-0), while Ivisic had 12. The Razorbacks shot 56.7 percent from the floor despite going just 4-for-19 from beyond the 3-point arc.
Jacob Ognacevic led the Bisons (1-1) with 16 points, with Gyasi Powell and Will Pruitt scoring 12 each. Lipscomb made just 38.7 percent of its field-goal attempts.
Both teams were ragged through the majority of a back-and-forth first half, with the Bisons holding a 17-12 lead after a 3-pointer by Joe Anderson at the midway mark. Arkansas swept to the front with an 11-0 run keyed by a three-point play and a layup by D.J. Wagner and a ringing dunk off a steal from Trevon Brazile.
Lipscomb was more than up to the challenge, responding to pull back to within 25-23 on a basket by Anderson from beyond the arc with 6:30 left before the break. The rest of the half belonged to the Razorbacks, who closed with a 14-5 run punctuates by a 3-pointer and then a dunk both by Karter Knox to expand the lead to 39-28 entering intermission.
Davis led all scorers with nine points before halftime while Ognacevic paced the Bisons with eight. The Razorbacks outshot Lipscomb 51.5 percent to 37 percent in the half and forced 11 Bisons turnovers that Arkansas turned into 14 points.
The Razorbacks expanded their lead to 15 points when Brazile tipped in a miss from Fland with 15:07 to play. Arkansas was still up by 15 before the Bisons scored 11 straight points, capped by a jumper from Logan Suber with 7:47 remaining.