Box Score Au'diese Toney was one of four double-figure scorers in leading Arkansas to a 77-68 victory over West Virginia in a Big 12/SEC Challenge game at Bud Walton Arena in Fayetteville, Arkansas, Saturday afternoon.
 
Toney, a Pitt transfer, scored a game-high 19 points by making 6 of his 8 field goal attempts and 7 of 8 from the free throw line. Arkansas (16-5) converted 28 of its 34 free throws and completely dominated the glass by out-rebounding the Mountaineers 44-29.
 
Forward Jaylin Williams pulled down a game-high 15 rebounds while Stanley Umude contributed eight boards.
 
Umude and Williams scored 12 points each.
 
"The reality is we were playing mid-major guys early and we could overpower them," West Virginia coach Bob Huggins said of his team's inability to hold its own on the glass. "We can't overpower people that play at our level and Gabe (Osabuohien) fouls out again, which kills us. He's the guy who can keep balls alive and he's also the guy who slaps at every ball and ends up fouling out."
 
Osabuohien scored 7 points and grabbed three rebounds before fouling out with 4:57 remaining.
 
Huggins complimented the second-half effort put forth by senior forward Dimon Carrigan, who grabbed three rebounds and blocked three shots in 22 minutes of action.
 
 "I've told our bigs this, 'If you are not even going to try and rebound I just can't play you,'" Huggins said. "That's kind of what happened today when (Dimon Carrigan) got tired and we didn't have a sub."
 
Arkansas' leading scorer, JD Notae, who came into today's game leading the SEC with an 18.9 points per game average, spent a good portion of the first half on the bench in early foul trouble and finished with 15.
 
"We started out the game the way we've been playing and then we decided we were going to compete," Huggins said.
 
Arkansas never trailed and led by nine points at halftime, and then by 19 with 16 minutes left in the game. But here, West Virginia went on a 16-2 run over a four-minute stretch to reduce the Razorback lead to five, 54-49. Guard Kedrian Johnson keyed the run with a couple of 3s and a pair of free throws.

"Being down 19 is not a good feeling and we didn't want to go out like that, so we tried our best to come back, but things happen and things don't always go your way," Johnson said.
 
West Virginia had multiple opportunities to get closer but couldn't get its shots to go down, missing eight of its next 10 field goal tries. In the meantime, Arkansas built its lead back to 13 and the margin never got closer than six afterward.
 
Johnson tallied a career-high 18 points on 5 of 9 shooting and tripled his 3-point field goal total for the season with four today. He came into this afternoon making just 2 of 19 from behind the arc.
 
"I'll tell you what, (Johnson) was the MVP of the game to me," Huggins said. "I can't find fault with him. He attacked the rim. He made shots because he's obviously been in the gym and worked at it."
 
Taz Sherman scored 15 and Malik Curry came off the bench to contribute 11.
 
West Virginia (13-7) was better from the floor in the second half, connecting on 43% of its shot attempts to finish the game at 38.3%. The Mountaineers forced 15 Razorback turnovers and cashed in on seven of those for 14 points.
 
Today's loss was West Virginia's fifth straight with a Monday night game at No. 4 Baylor looming.

"Losing five games in a row hurts if you love the game of basketball, it's never happened to me before and that will have a big toll on you," Johnson admitted. "But it's up to us to stay positive and keep moving forward and learn from our mistakes."
 
"I detest losing more than anyone, but I'm proud of the way our guys came back," Huggins said. "For the first time probably since UAB we competed again. We refused to give up. I feel better and I feel like we've got that turned in the right direction."
 
Arkansas extended its winning streak to six games. Today's announced attendance was 19,200.
 
This afternoon's contest was only the second meeting between the two schools. Arkansas defeated West Virginia 71-64 in the championship game of the 2006 Old Spice Classic in Orlando, Florida.