Brownwood, Texas – The Howard Payne University men's basketball team lost 66-63 to Southwestern University on Tuesday evening at the Brownwood Coliseum. The loss spoiled Howard Payne's 2016 season home opener and dropped them to 1-3 on the season. 

The Yellow Jackets came out of the gate strong and held the Pirates to 13% from three and 9-29 from the field to take a nine point lead into halftime. However, Southwestern (3-3) came out in the second half and created contact, got to the free throw line and began to make their outside shots to pull ahead with their third victory of the season. 

Howard Payne used their depth and collected 21 points off their bench while having six players score five points or more. Rickey Guillory led the Jackets with 16 points, six rebounds and three blocks and Khyce Randall added 11 points as the Yellow Jackets faltered late and allowed the Pirates to shoot 6-12 from three point range to close out the game. 

The two sides exchanged buckets to start the game, changing leads five times in the first half. Howard Payne led 11-10 with seven minutes left in the half but Southwestern pulled away and led by as many as five points before the Jackets made their comeback. 

De'Marcus Hurd hit one three pointer and back-to-back jumpers to help Howard Payne retake the 28-23 lead with just over three minutes left to play in the half. Hurd would go on to force a steal and drain one more jumper to help Howard Payne take a 34-25 lead into halftime. 

The Yellow Jackets extended their lead to twelve after some hot shooting from David Dingle to start the second half. However, the Pirates caught fire from range and regained control of the lead and a three pointer from Connor Kim gave them a 53-50 lead with eight minutes left to play. 

Howard Payne battled back though and Rickey Guillory scored on two straight possessions to help the Yellow Jackets push the game deep into the final minutes. Khyce Randal hit a huge three pointer that gave his team a shot at the victory with 1:24 left in the game.  

However, Chris Molina got to the rim and Ryan Ogden sank a free throw late in the game to help give the Pirates the 66-63 victory with .16 seconds remaining on the clock. 

Howard Payne will next play host to LeTourneau University at the Brownwood Coliseum on Thursday, December 1st at 5:30 pm. Tickets are free for HPU students and faculty and kids under 12 also get in free. Adult tickets are $3, kids ages 12-18 are $1 and senior citizens are $2 at the door.