FAYETTEVILLE, Ark. (ODU ATHLETICS) – Chaunce Jenkins scored 21 points to pace three in double figures on Monday night as Old Dominion dropped a hard-fought 86-77 decision to 14th-ranked Arkansas in front of 19,200 at Bud Walton Arena.
“I think we got better tonight. A lot of different guys stepped up facing Arkansas which is a really good team,” said ODU Head Coach Jeff Jones. “For the most part we played some really good defense, but Arkansas presents so many problems attacking you in different ways. We forced them to play and they made some plays at the end.”
Old Dominion (1-2) got on the board early as a Dani Pounds putback dunk and a Tyrone Williams free throw gave the Monarchs a 3-0 lead at 17:43 mark of the half. Arkansas (3-0) responded with a 15-4 run to take a 15-7 lead after a Makhi Mitchell three-point play with 12:17 left.
A Williams putback followed by a Vasean Allette’s driving layup with 10:16 on the clock brought the Monarchs to 15-11, but Arkansas scored the next 10 points to take a 25-11 lead after a Mitchell free throw with 6:46 left in the half.
The Razorbacks lead was 35-24 with 2:10 remaining after a Khalif Battle free throw, but ODU responded with a half closing 7-2 spurt capped by an R.J. Blakney 3-pointer to beat the halftime buzzer as ODU trailed 37-31 at intermission.
Williams brought the Monarchs to 44-41 after drilling a 3-pointer off a feed from Allette at the 16:25 mark. Bryce Baker dropped a 3-ball from the corner at 14:31 on the clock to keep the deficit to three points at 49-46. Arkansas scored the next seven points in a 79 second span to push the margin back to 10 after a pair of Battle free throws for a 56-46 score at 13:12 left.
That margin for Arkansas grew to 79-65 with 5:06 remaining following another pair of Battle free throws. ODU did not quit and cut the lead to six following a Devin Ceaser driving layup for an 83-77 margin with 67 seconds left. The Razorbacks hit three free throws in the final minute to ice the win.
Joining Jenkins in double figures were Ceaser with a season-high 18 points hitting 8-of-12 from the floor, including two triples, while Blakney finished with 14 points. On the night, ODU was 31-of-71 from the floor (43.7%), a season-high 11-of-24 from 3-point range (45.8%) and outrebounded the Razorbacks 39-35.
El Ellis had 17 points, with Davonte Davis adding 16 and Battle with 13 for Arkansas. Mitchell had a 15 point-10 rebound double-double as well.
Old Dominion returns to Chartway Arena on November 22 for a 2 p.m. tip against Princeton.
ODU MBB battles hard with #14 Arkansas, falls short in final minutes
