Hogs back in action tonight following 67-64 loss to Baylor

WACO, Texas (AP) -- Keyonte George and No. 17 Baylor keep finding ways to win despite their recent struggles shooting the ball.

The true freshman scored 24 points, including seven in a row down the stretch, and the Bears edged Arkansas 67-64 in the SEC/Big 12 Challenge on Saturday.

Arkansas is back in SEC play tonight night at home against Texas A&M.

Baylor has a six-game winning streak even with its three worst shooting games of the season all coming in the last week.

"We had to gut that one out," George said. "We preach controlling what you can control. ... We played hard, fought hard and got a good home win."

LJ Cryer had 20 points for the Bears (16-5), who shot a season-low 33.9% (20 of 59) from the field. They offset that by making 21 of 24 free throws, including two by Cryer with 10 seconds left and two by George with 4.3 seconds remaining.

"As a coach, you just want to have good shots," Baylor coach Scott Drew said. "Our guys really did a great job on the free-throw line, and made tough free throws down the stretch."

Ricky Council IV scored 25 points for Arkansas (14-7). Davonte Davis had 16 points, but missed the front end of a 1-plus-1 with 2.3 seconds left. The ball got knocked out to Joseph Pinion in the right corner, but the freshman missed wildly on a 3-pointer as time ran out.

"The one thing that you always want from your basketball team is to play as hard as they possibly can," Razorbacks coach Eric Musselman said. "Anybody that was here walked away and saw a great basketball game. I feel for the locker room."

Baylor fell behind by as many as eight points in the second half after an early 11-point lead. But the Bears closed it out after Flo Thamba made two free throws for a 55-53 lead with 3:37 left.

Then came the strong spurt by George, who made a floater, scored on a strong move inside and then hit a step-back 3-pointer with 1:21 left for a seven-point lead.

"I feel like I've proven myself to be able to take those shots in those last couple of minutes," George said. "Anybody can do it, it was just me tonight."

The Bears led 19-8 on George's 3-pointer with 10:36 left in the first half. They then missed 16 of their last 17 shots before halftime.

Arkansas made 11 of 12 shots during that same stretch, and went up 33-27 after a half-ending 11-0 run capped by back-to-back baskets by Davis.

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