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Michael Qualls tip-slam lifts Arkansas over Kentucky in overtime (VIDEO)

Michael Qualls

James Young tied the score at 85-all with 12 second remaining in overtime. Rashad Madden brought the ball up the right sideline and instead of driving to the bucket, looking to draw the game’s 61st foul of the night, he settled for a bad 3-point shot. Luckily for Arkansas, he heaved the shot with two-plus seconds left on the clock.

As the shot went up, no one in a blue jersey located Michael Qualls, who came streaking down the baseline, and threw down a last-second tip-slam, putting the Razorbacks up two with 0.2 seconds remaining. Arkansas ended a long, foul-filled Tuesday night game against No. 13 Kentucky with a huge 87-85 win at Bud Walton Arena.

The game went to overtime after the Arkansas defense had a massive breakdown. A pair of Razorback defenders followed Young on the play, which left Andrew Harrison open on the wing, who drilled his first shot of the game with three seconds remaining in regulation.

For Arkansas, a collapse in overtime could have dashed any hope of the Razorbacks getting an NCAA tournament bid. And yes, it is only January. But Arkansas had lost games in Maui to Cal and Gonzaga, ranked No. 11 at the time. The Razorbacks then began SEC play with a 16-point loss at Texas A&M. That was followed by a home loss in overtime to then No. 10 Florida, which was without leading scorer Casey Prather.

Instead of heading to double-overtime and potentially falling to 0-3 in conference play, Arkansas picked up a quality win it was in need of this season.

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