Hubbard scores 19, Mississippi State holds off Arkansas, 71-67

STARKVILLE, Miss. -- — Josh Hubbard scored 19 points and Mississippi State picked up its third straight win, holding off Arkansas 71-67 on Saturday afternoon.

Mississippi State has now won its last three straight, including its first Southeastern Conference road win a week ago at Missouri.

Hubbard hit 6 of 18 from the field, including 3 of 10 from distance and Matthews hit 6 of 7 from the floor and was 5 of 10 from the line to add 17 points and 10 rebounds for the Bulldogs (17-8, 6-6).

Makhi Mitchell finished with 21 points and nine rebounds to lead Arkansas (12-13, 3-9). Khalif Battle added 18 points.

Arkansas took a 67-65 lead with 1:07 left on a layup by El Ellis, but Hubbard put the Bulldogs in front for good nine seconds later with a 3-pointer.

The Razorbacks missed multiple shot attempts trying to tie it. Tolu Smith blocked a Chandler Lawson layup attempt with 29 seconds left and, after an Arkansas time out, Shakeel Moore got a steal with 10 seconds left, was immediately fouled and made both free throws to push the lead to three. Ellis missed two free throws with a second left for the Razorbacks and Cameron Matthews added a free throw for the Bulldogs to end it.

Shawn Jones Jr.’s jumper with eight minutes left in the first half gave Mississippi State its largest lead, 25-17 and the Bulldogs held a 34-29 advantage at the break. Neither team could sustain a lead through most of the second half. The game featured nine times and five lead changes.

Mississippi State has six games left in its regular season, including three against ranked opponents, starting Wednesday at home against Mississippi.

Arkansas travels to face Texas A&M Tuesday.

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