No. 20 Arkansas beats Missouri 88-84 in OT to give Calipari his 900th career win

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COLUMBIA, Mo. (AP) — No. 20 Arkansas beat Missouri 88-84 in overtime on Saturday to make John Calipari the fifth Division I men’s basketball coach to win 900 games.

Meleek Thomas scored 28 and Trevon Brazile had 19 points and nine rebounds for Arkansas (23-8, 13-5 Southeastern Conference), which played without star freshman point guard Darius Acuff Jr. He missed the game with an undisclosed injury.

Acuff entered play leading the SEC in scoring and passing with 22 points and 6.2 assists per game.

Malique Ewin had 17 points and nine rebounds, and converted four straight free throws in the final 12 seconds of overtime to seal the game for the Razorbacks.

Brazile, who played his freshman season at Missouri, drained a 3-pointer with 22 seconds remaining in overtime to give the Razorbacks an 84-82 lead.

Mark Mitchell scored a career-best 32, and Shawn Phillips Jr. had 13 points and 10 rebounds for Missouri (20-11, 10-8), which has lost two straight heading into the conference tournament.

Thomas split a pair of free throws with 32 seconds remaining in regulation to tie the game at 74 after the teams changed leads seven times in the second half.

Mitchell drained a layup with 14:25 to play in the second half to push him over the 1,000-point mark in 64 games through two seasons with Missouri.

Phillips slammed down an alley-oop from Mitchell with 16:42 remaining in the second half to put Missouri ahead 45-44 for its first lead of the game.

Arkansas: Will open SEC Tournament play in the quarterfinals in Nashville on Friday.

Missouri: Will open SEC Tournament play in Nashville on Thursday.

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