ABILENE, Texas – The Howard Payne University men's basketball team saw their four game winning streak come to an end as the hot-shooting Cowboys from Hardin-Simmons University ran away with a 100-85 victory on Thursday evening. 

Khyce Randall finished one bucket shy of a career-high with 32 points as he and Rickey Guillory almost single-handedly kept the Yellow Jackets (9-6, 5-2 ASC) competitive during the contest. Guillory finished with a double-double, 27 points and ten rebounds. 

Howard Payne came out and kept the game close for the first seven minutes before the Cowboys (12-4, 6-1 ASC) began to pull away. They knocked down 66% of their shots in the first half to climb out to a 61-40 lead at halftime. 

After the first minute of the game, Hardin-Simmons would never trail again in the game. They had seven players score in the first half and five players reached double figures in scoring before the conclusion of the game as they rolled to a crucial ASC-West victory. 

Howard Payne came out of the half intent on chipping away at the lead. They were very aggressive but for every scoring run they made, Hardin-Simmons answered with clutch shot after clutch shot. They did end up out-scoring the Cowboys 45-39 in the second half, but could never get within 12 points of the lead. 

The Jackets drop their second conference game of the year and now move to 6-2 in conference and will take on McMurry University on Saturday, January 14th in Abilene. Tip-off is slated for 3:00 PM and Dallas Huston will have the call on 99.3 FM. Live links and video can also be found on HPUSports.com and follow @HPUmbsk on Twitter for in-game updates and more.