BROWNWOOD, Texas - The Howard Payne University men's basketball team battled from an 11-point deficit to defeat East Texas Baptist 67-65 Thursday evening at the Brownwood Coliseum.

Howard Payne outscored East Texas Baptist 19-6 in the closing eight minutes of the game. It was capped by the winning jumper in the lane by Willie Foreman with five seconds remaining to give Jackets the 67-65 lead. ETBU missed on its last second attempt to give the Jackets the victory.

Rickey Guillory, who finished with five total blocks in the game, had two key blocks in the final two minutes of the game to stop the ETBU offense. 

The game remained close and competitive throughout with ETBU holding a 31-30 lead at the break. Almost all statistical categories were even with the Jackets holding a 24-10 advantage in points off turnovers and 24-13 lead in bench points.

Guillory added a game high 10 rebounds and four steals to his team high 16 points. DJ Gardner scored 12 off the bench and Khyce Randall added 11 points.

ETBU was led by Dylan Augustine with a game high 17 points. Jordan Quillian had 16 and Bret Atkins added 12.

Howard Payne is now 4-9 overall and 2-3 in American Southwest Conference action. ETBU stands at 8-4 overall and 2-2 in league play. The Jackets will play Belhaven University on Saturday at home starting at 3:00 pm.
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