ARKANSAS 60, GEORGIA 49

This time, Georgia simply ran out of players.

With Kenny Gaines sidelined with a foot injury and Juwan Parker unable to give them more than six minutes due to a chronic Achilles problem, the Bulldogs simply didn’t have enough legs to keep up with the fast-running Razorbacks of Arkansas in the SEC Tournament semifinals. Wounded but proud, they headed back to Athens after the 60-49 loss to get word from the NCAA Tournament selection of their next destination.

The Bulldogs, seeded third in this tournament, fall to 21-11 on the season. No. 2 Arkansas (26-7), which beat Georgia for the second time this season, advances to championship game to face No. 1 ranked and unbeaten Kentucky (33-0). The Razorbacks lost to the Wildcats 84-67 in Lexington on Feb. 28.

It was the second the second year in a row Georgia’s SEC run ended in the semifinals. The Bulldogs, who also had a double-bye then, lost to Kentucky in this round in Atlanta last March.

With Gaines out, J.J. Frazier got his 15th start of the year at point guard and Kenny Paul Geno started at small forward. Juwan Parker came off the bench as the first perimeter player in the rotation but aggravated his injury in the first half and did not return.

Georgia got another double-double out of senior forward Marcus Thorton with 13 points and 12 rebounds. But the rest of the offensive production came from unusual places. Cameron Forte had a season-high 13 points and walkon Taylor Echols came off the bench to score 10.

The Bulldogs managed to get Arkansas to play at their pace and held SEC player of the year Bobby Portis to four points. The Razorbacks were led by Michael Qualls with 15 and Anthlon Bell added 10.

But Arkansas did what it does in the second half. After being frustrated by and grinding through Georgia’s preferred pace in the first-half, the Razorbacks were able to take advantage of some turnovers and get loose and run early in the second half. The stretched an eight-point halftime lead to 15, 38-23, over the first five minutes.

Arkansas would build from there. Back-to-back 3-point baskets Anthlon Bell resulted in the Hogs’ biggest advantage of the game. They led 44-25 when Fox called for a timeout at the 13:03 mark.

And that was that. The Bulldogs continued to fight valiantly with players like Kenny Paul Geno and Echols playing more minutes than usual.

It was Echols’ third 3 of the game that brought Georgia to within 56-47 with four minutes to play and put a brief scare into the Razorbacks. But they were able to make free throws and get run-outs on missed Bulldog 3s from there.

Georgia got a lot of good things done in the first half but trailed 25-17. The Bulldogs were able dictate the pace of the game to one they prefer and held Portis, the SEC player of the year, scoreless over the first 20 minutes.