BROWNWOOD, Texas – The Howard Payne University men's basketball team defeated LeTourneau University 93-88 during overtime on Thursday evening at the Brownwood Coliseum.
After trailing by seven points at halftime, the Yellow Jackets (2-3) were able to rally back behind some key late defensive stops from J Bailey and four clutch free throws from De'Marcus Hurd to force an overtime.
The Howard Payne offense, fueled in part by junior guard Khyce Randall's aggressive play, took over the game in overtime. The Jackets went 3-5 from the field and 5-7 from the free throw line while holding LeTourneau (3-2) to 27% from the field to help wrestle the game away in overtime.
Rickey Guillory led all players with a career high 24 points while also collecting eight rebounds, five blocks (matching another career high) and four assists to help lead the Yellow Jackets to the victory. Shadd Cole had a double-double and a career high 20 points and also matched his career high 10 rebounds on 54% shooting.
Khyce Randall finished with 17 points and a career best 13 rebounds. J Bailey battled foul trouble all night, but came through in the final minutes coming up with key defensive stops and a dunk off a well executed pick and role to help propel the Jackets to the come from behind victory. Bailey finished with 11 points and three blocks in 22 minutes of play.
Shadd Cole got things started early for the Jackets, making back-to-back three pointers in the games first two minutes. Khyce Randall answered with a three pointer of his own and Howard Payne built an early seven point lead, 9-2.
Rickey Guillory followed with two consecutive buckets to give his squad a nine point lead, but LeTourneau would soon battle back. After sinking a three with 8:41 left in the half, LETU would score two layups off of offensive rebounds to take a 25-20 lead.
LeTourneau pulled away and led by as many as eight points with five minutes left to go in the half. After three consecutive Howard Payne possessions that ended in three point conversions from Rickey Guillory and Khyce Randall, the Jackets had pulled within 2, 30-28.
LETU was able to draw contact and get to the free throw line the rest of the half. At one point, LeTourneau stretched their lead to nine by shooting 5-7 from the free throw line. Howard Payne fought back to end the first half down by seven, 45-38 after Khyce Randall grabbed a rebound in the paint and found Donovan Jenkins for the easy layup to help close the gap before halftime.
The Yellow Jackets fell behind to start the half, trailing by as much as nine points with 4:17 seconds left to go in regulation. Back-to-back buckets from Khyce Randall, one from range, the other a layup in the paint, and another three pointer from sophomore Shadd Cole brought Howard Payne within one point, 77-76 with just over two minutes left to go in the second half.
The Jackets then drew some contact and collected five free throws down the stretch including four straight from De'Marcus Hurd to help tie the game up at 81-81 and force it into overtime.
Howard Payne had five players score in overtime and they were able to hold LeTourneau to 3-11 shooting to run away with their second victory of the season, 93-88.
The Jackets will next play host to the University of Texas at Tyler on Saturday, December 1st. Tip off is set for 3:00 pm and tickets are free for students and also for children under the age of 12. Adult tickets to the public are $3 for adults, $2 for senior citizens and $1 for kids over the age of 12.
Keep up with the Yellow Jackets on Twitter and Instagram by following @HPUSports
