Abram Choate, SID
ABILENE, Texas – The Howard Payne University Yellow Jackets shoot 53% from the field, but lose 97-92 to McMurry University, Saturday at Kimbrell Arena.
The Yellow Jackets started four different players than usual- Lee Scott (Snyder), Brook Woods (Brownwood), John Bryant (China Springs), Tom Hermann (Fort Worth), and Bryan Blalock (Magnolia).
The Jackets took a 10-6 lead with 14:49 in the first, sparked by two 3-pointers from Lee Scott.
McMurry's Terrence Booker hit a lay-up with 8:40 in the first to tie the game at 21-21.
Hot shooting by McMurry allowed them to build a 6 point lead, 35-29, with 5:30 left in the half.
HPU rallied back and a lay-up by Victor Hayes gave the Jackets a 41-40 lead with 1:45 left in the half. McM held strong and went into the break up 44-42.
Both teams shot the ball great in the first half with McM shooting 58% and HPU shooting 59%.
In the second half, both teams battled back-and-forth. Mid-way through the second, HPU was able to take the lead, but McM rallied back and built a 10 point lead with 6 minutes remaining.
The HPU transition game brought the Jackets to within 2, 87-85, with 2:45 to play. HPU ran out of steam from there and lost 97-92.
Howard Payne was led by Sean Wheeler (San Angelo) with a game-high 21. Kendrick Johnson (Houston) scored 18 and Lee Scott had 13. Tom Hermann and Craig Blackmon (Houston) scored 12 and 10 respectively.
McM was led by Glenn Gillard with 18 points. Bud Willis and Emile Brown had 15 points each. Alvin Stevens and Terrance Willis had 11 each.
The Jackets will play at home on Thursday versus Hardin-Simmons.
