BROWNWOOD, Texas -- The Howard Payne men's basketball team dropped their first conference loss of the season 77-59 to undefeated Hardin-Simmons University in American Southwest Conference action Tuesday night at the Brownwood Coliseum.

Hardin-Simmons used a 13-1 run late in the first half to take a 34-23 lead. The Yellow Jackets would trail 42-37 at halftime.

With Howard Payne down just three 44-41 at the start of the second half, a 15-1 run gave Hardin-Simmons a 59-42 lead with 14 minutes to play. Turnovers plagued the Jackets in the second half and Hardin-Simmons would kept the lead the rest of the way.  

Brandon Gould led Howard Payne with 15 points. Ty Davis followed with nine points and seven rebounds. The Jackets were just 16 of 27 from the free-throw line in the game.

HSU's Derrick Jefferson led all scorers with 26 points. O'Neal had 19 points for the Cowboys. HSU shot 45% from the field for the game.

The Yellow Jackets dropped their first conference game of the year to fall to 2-3 overall and 2-1 in ASC play. The Cowboys are 8-0 on the year and 4-0 in ASC play.Howard Payne will play next on Sat., December 20th at NCAA DI - University of Texas at Arlington at 2:00 pm