RICHARDSON, Texas - The Howard Payne University men's basketball team could not recover from a slow start and lost to the University of Texas at Dallas 98-59 Thursday evening.

The Yellow Jackets only managed 28% shooting in the first half while the Comets shot 66% from the field in the opening period. Howard Payne's Khyce Randall led all scorers with 30 points and eight rebounds.

Howard Payne was 4 of 8 from behind the arc in the second half and 8 of 19 for the game. The Jackets did not fair well at the line going 11 of 22 on the night.

Following Randall's game high 30 on 7 of 11 shooting from behind the arc and 5 of 6 shooting at the line was Timothy Aguero with 10 points and two steals off the bench. 

UT Dallas was led by Kelden Pruitt with 13 points and nine rebounds. Curtis Allen and Hans Burwitz each ended with 12 points.

Howard Payne is now 1-4 overall and 0-1 in American Southwest Conference action. UT Dallas stands at 3-2 overall and 1-0 in league play. The Jackets will have their home opener on Saturday, Dec. 2nd at 4:00 pm versus Southwestern University.