SAN ANTONIO, Texas – The Howard Payne University men's basketball defeated Trinity University, 67-58 behind the hot shooting of Khyce Randall on Saturday afternoon at Sam's Gymnasium.
Randall was just one point shy of matching his season high, finishing with 26 points on 54% shooting from range and Donovan Jenkins pulled down a career high 15 rebounds to help give Howard Payne (6-5) the non-conference victory on New Years Eve.
Trinity (4-6) was unable to receive any scoring contributions from their bench and fell behind early in the first half as Howard Payne received scoring contributions from eight players. The Jackets bench would go on to out-score the Tigers bench, 19-6 to collect their sixth victory of the season.
After scoring on their first possession, Trinity fell behind by 10 points early in the first half when Donovan Jenkins hit a nice mid range jumper and Cody Hastings followed it up by draining a three on the very next offensive possession.
The Tigers found some success early by getting the ball inside to Aaron Knopp for some easy buckets. The lead was cut to four points, 20-16 with just under four minutes remaining in the half before Shadd Cole knocked down a trey from distance to help Howard Payne pull away with a 29-19 lead heading into halftime.
The Jackets were able to hold Trinity to less than 20 points on 20% shooting during the first half to help pad their lead heading into the final half of the game. The Tigers came out focused and energized to start the second half and exchanged baskets with Howard Payne before tying it up at 34-34 after Matt Jones buried a jumper from the outside.
The Tigers went on to take a brief two point lead, 51-49 after back-to-back buckets in the paint. It would be the final time they held the lead as Howard Payne rallied behind the hot shooting of Khyce Randall who made four three pointers in the half to help bury Trinity's early second half run.
Randall's three pointers seemed to always come at the perfect time for the Jackets. As they were able to fend off scoring run after scoring run from the Tigers, it was Randall's accuracy from beyond the arc that made the difference down the stretch and helped deliver Howard Payne the 67-58 win.
The Yellow Jacketsz now move to 6-5 on the season and will next face Louisiana College on January 3, 2017. Tip-off is slated for 7:30 PM and live stats and video can be found on HPUSports.com. Also, follow along on Twitter @HPUmbsk and on Instagram #HPUSports for in game updates and more.
