Abram Choate, SID

BROWNWOOD, Texas – The Howard Payne second half surge came up short as University of Mary Hardin-Baylor Cru posted a 71-68 victory over Howard Payne Thursday night in the Brownwood Coliseum.

Howard Payne opened the game with a 10-0 run, but UMHB stormed back to take a 37-30 halftime lead. HPU scored the first six points of the second half to close to within one before UMHB pushed it back to a seven-point lead.

The Yellow Jackets once again battled back and took a 66-63 lead with 3:26 left to play. Ryan Burgart hit a free-throw and added a lay-up to tie the game at 66. Another Burgart free-throw gave UMHB a 67-66 edge and David Ray added a lay-up to make it 69-66 UMHB.

Brock Woods hit a pair of free-throws to pull HPU to within 69-68, but Neiman Ford buried a pair of clutch free-throws with 17 seconds left to provide the final margin. HPU missed a three-pointer and then turned the ball over on its final possession of the game.

UMHB shot 52 per cent from the field in the first half and 67 per cent from three-point range. HPU hit 52 per cent from the field in the second half, but went just 5-18 from beyond the arc while UMHB hit 7-13 from long range.

Senior Lee Scott topped HPU with 21 points and 6 steals, Tom Hermann added 16 and Brock Woods had 13 points, 8 rebounds, and 7 assists for the Yellow Jackets.

Lytle led UMHB with 16 points, he hit 4-7 from three-point range. David Ray added 14 points and 10 rebounds and Tilmon Gaddy had 10 points and 10 boards. Ryan Burgart added 13 points and eight rebounds for UMHB. .

The loss drops Howard Payne to 11-11 overall and 9-9 in the ASC on the season. The UMHB men improve to 19-3 overall and 16-2 in American Southwest Conference play with the win.

The Jackets will play at home on Saturday against Concordia at 3:00 PM.