Abram Choate, SID

TYLER, Texas - Howard Payne's Kendrick Johnson ( Houston) scored a game-high 23 points to push the Jackets past the University of Texas at Tyler on Saturday. Howard Payne hit more of their shots from behind the three-point arc than inside in the first half, sinking The University of Texas at Tyler 78-67.

In all, Howard Payne shot twenty three-pointers, hitting half of them. In the first half, of their thirteen baskets from the floor, eight were threes.

UT-Tyler had trimmed an eight-point Yellow Jacket lead down to one with less than a minute to go, but Howard Payne answered with five points from John Bryant (China Springs) and a three from Josh Weatherred (Amarillo) to stretch the halftime lead back to nine and force the UT-Tyler to chase for the entire second half.

HPU held on to sink the Patriots 78-67.

The Yellow Jackets were outrebounded 40-32, but UT Tyler had 21 turnovers in the game.

Josh Weatherred added 15 points for the Yellow Jackets on 4 of 7 shooting from the 3-point line. Lee Scott (Snyder) also had 11 points on 3-6 shooting from behind the arc.

The Patriots were led by Mirada Reed with 13 points on 6-for-14 shooting.

The Jackets play on Monday at the University of Texas at Dallas, a 5:00 p.m. start.