Notae helps No. 8 Arkansas beat Missouri 70-64 in SEC

<p>NASHVILLE, Tenn. &mdash; Reserve JD Notae scored a season-high 27 points and No. 8 Arkansas overcame a 10-point deficit to beat Missouri 70-64 on Friday night to advance to the Southeastern Conference Tournament semifinals. </p>
<p>The Razorbacks (22-5) won their 12th straight SEC game. The second-seeded Razorbacks will play either LSU or Ole Miss in the semifinals Saturday, their fourth such berth since 2015. </p>
<p>Justin Smith scored 16 points before fouling out for Arkansas, and Davonte Davis added 11. Moses Moody, the SEC Newcomer of the Year who had been averaging 17.5 points a game, matched his season-low with five points. </p>
<p>Missouri (16-9) heads home having failed to reach the semifinals at this tournament since joining the SEC for the 2012-13 season with this the Tigers’ fourth loss in the quarterfinals. </p>
<p>Xavier Pinson led Missouri with 14 points. Dru Smith added 11. </p>
<p>The Tigers led for much of the first half and were up 23-13 on a layup by Dru Smith with 9:18 left. </p>
<p>Notae started the rally with a big dunk and made five straight shots, including back-to-back 3s to cap a 16-0 spurt. His first 3 gave Arkansas its first lead of the game with 5:13 remaining, and his second padded that lead to 29-23. The junior guard made six of his first seven shots in the half. </p>
<p>Pickett hit a 3-pointer that put Missouri up 33-32 at halftime. The Tigers last led 49-47 on a dunk by Kobe Brown with 9:32 left. </p>
<p>Arkansas took control with an 13-1 run, grabbing its biggest lead at 60-50 with 5:04 left on a layup by Notae. </p>
<p>Missouri had one last gasp. Parker Braun hit a 3, then Kobe Brown added a pair of free throws to pull the Tigers within 63-60 with 1:49 to go. But Notae beat the shot clock with a jumper with 1:19 remaining, and Davis split his free throws with 58 seconds left to pad the lead.</p>
<p>BIG PICTURE</p>
<p>Missouri: The Tigers matched Arkansas’ strong shooting early in the first half until foul trouble caught up with them. Jeremiah Tilmon fouled out with 5:26 to go having scored only nine points, and Mitchell Smith also fouled out. </p>
<p>Arkansas: The Razorbacks started their SEC winning streak rallying from a 19-point deficit against Auburn. They also trailed by 14 to Texas A&amp;M in the regular season finale. This time, they only trailed by only 10, but that could be costly the deeper they advance this month. </p>
<p>UP NEXT</p>
<p>Arkansas are back in the semifinals for the fourth time in six tournaments. The Razorbacks either get a chance at payback against LSU, one of the four SEC teams to beat the Razorbacks this season or the opportunity to beat Ole Miss again to reach the championship. </p>
<p>Missouri heads home to learn its NCAA Tournament destination.</p>
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