BROWNWOOD, Texas – The Howard Payne University men's basketball team played host to the University of the Ozarks on Thursday night at the Brownwood Coliseum and came away with an 88-76 victory.
The Yellow Jackets had five players score in double figures and they had a total of 10 players score at least one bucket as they cruised to their third win in four games. Rickey Guillory led the way with 14 points, seven rebounds, five assists and three steals and Shadd Cole came off of the bench to finish with 13 points in the game.
Talen Davis-Rentfro finished with a career-high 11 points on 2-3 shooting from three and Khyce Randall added 10 points and seven rebounds to help Howard Payne collect their third win to start ASC play. David Dingle also had 10 points, a career high, while J Bailey finished with eight points, seven rebounds and three assists.
Howard Payne led by as many as five points in the first half as the two teams mainly exchanged buckets to start the game. The Yellow Jackets (4-4) were able to climb to a five-point lead, 10-5 in the games first five minutes before the Eagles (4-3) fought back and took a seven-point lead with 4:30 remaining in the half.
After back-to-back three-pointers from Talen Davis-Rentfro and De'Marcus Hurd, the Jackets had cut the deficit to one, 37-36 with three minutes left in the first half. J Bailey sunk two free throws late in the half to give Howard Payne a brief one-point lead before the Ozarks made a free throw and closed out the half up, 41-40.
The Yellow Jackets came out and took control in the second half, climbing to a 70-58 lead in the half's first six minutes. Howard Payne received buckets from an array of players and never let Ozarks within four points of the lead the rest of the way.
Howard Payne settled in and finished the game at the free throw line as the Eagles attempted to get back into the game late. Shadd Cole and De'Marcus Hurd sank the game's final four free throws and the Jackets collected their third ASC victory on the season.
The win moves Howard Payne to 3-1 in ASC play as they now look to carry that momentum into their next matchup. The Jackets will take on the University of Texas at Dallas on Saturday, December 17th at 3:00 PM. Live stats and video will be available on HPUSports.com and keep up with the Yellow Jackets on Twitter (@HPUJackets) and Instagram (@HPUSports)
