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Qualls, Arkansas edge Wofford

Mar 20, 2015 - 6:11 AM Jacksonville, FL (SportsNetwork.com) - Neither Arkansas or Wofford led by more than a possession in the second half.

It was a fitting way to end a wild day in Jacksonville.

Michael Qualls had 20 points, Bobby Portis added 15 points and 13 rebounds and the Razorbacks edged the Terriers 56-53 in second-round action in the West Region on Thursday night.

Karl Cochran and Eric Garcia missed potentially game-tying 3-pointers for Wofford in the final 10 seconds.

"Thank goodness they ran out of time," Arkansas coach Mike Anderson said of Wofford.

Three of the four games decided at Veterans Memorial Arena were decided by a combined six points. No. 14 seed Georgia State shocked third-seeded Baylor 57-56 to start the day and fourth-seeded North Carolina fended off No. 13 seed Harvard in the opener of the evening session.

The fifth-seeded Razorbacks (27-8) will play the Tar Heels in the third round Saturday.

There were 18 lead changes and 10 ties in the contest. Neither team led by more than five points.

Qualls went 8-of-9 from the field, which included a trio of highlight-reel dunks. Alandise Harris tallied eight points and eight boards for Arkansas, which came in winning 10 of its last 13 games, with two of those losses coming against top-ranked Kentucky.

It was the Razorbacks' first NCAA Tournament game since 2008.

The Southern Conference Player of the Year Cochran missed his last eight shots from the field and was 4-of-19 overall -- 2-of-12 from beyond the arc. He had 12 points and seven rebounds.

Spencer Collins supplied 16 points and nine boards for the 12th-seeded Terriers (28-7), who had won eight straight and 15 of their last 16 contests.

"The score was in the 50s, we took nine more shots and we had eight turnovers. I would bet my last dollar that we would win that game. We didn't, obviously," Terriers coach Mike Young said.

Cochran split a pair of foul shots to stake Wofford to a 51-49 margin with 3:41 remaining, but the Razorbacks scored seven of the game's final nine points.

Rashad Madden and Portis put in layups to put Arkansas in front with 2:12 left before an Eric Garcia jumper tied the game with 1:55 on the clock.

Harris' three-point play on the Razorbacks' next trip down the floor put them ahead for good. Madden found him cutting down the lane and Harris put in the short jumper for a 56-53 advantage.

Wofford, which turned the ball over just three times in the first half, held a 28-27 margin at the break.

The Terriers, though, gave the ball away three times in just over a minute to begin the final 20 minutes and a Harris jumper gave Arkansas a 31-28 lead.

Game Notes

No. 12 seeds went 6-2 against fifth-seeded teams the last two years. Twelve- seeded California, Mississippi and Oregon pulled off upsets in 2013, while Harvard, North Dakota State and Stephen F. Austin won their 12-5 matchups last year ... Arkansas held a 36-16 points in the paint advantage ... Wofford shot just 31.6 percent (18-of-57) from the floor.