Abram Choate, SID

BROWNWOOD, Texas - The Howard Payne Yellow Jackets forced 28 Texas Lutheran turnovers on the way to a 87-72 victory in the Brownwood Coliseum Saturday evening.

Howard Payne recognized seniors Josh Weatherred, Sean Wheeler, and Kendrick Johnson before the game for their contribution to Howard Payne University and Howard Payne athletics.

Howard Payne shot 53% from the floor compared to TLU's 44%, but the big factor was the play of HPU seniors Kendrick Johnson and Sean Wheeler.

The game remained close for the first 3 minutes but from then HPU was able to build a slight lead. The Jackets went into the break up 39-29.

In the second, TLU made a run and was able to cut the HPU lead to 5 (48-43) with 14 minutes to play. The Jackets extended their lead again and held TLU at arms length to post the 87-72 victory.

Howard Payne was led by Kendrick Johnson with a game-high 25 points. Kendrick ended his career at HPU #11 all-time in scoring with 1,375 points. Sean Wheeler finished with 20 points and 6 rebounds in his last game as a Yellow Jacket. Victor Hayes came off the bench and scored 11.

TLU was led by Nate Walton with 21 points and 7 rebounds. J.C. Herebia had 15 and Michael Hill had 13 points.

The Yellow Jackets finished their season 7-16 overall and 7-14 in ASC play.