BROWNWOOD, Texas - The Howard Payne University men's basketball team fell 97-80 in its conference opener against Sul Ross State University Saturday afternoon. HPU's Luke Cox tied his own HPU record for three-pointers made in a game.

Luke Cox went 8-for-16 from the three-point line to tie the HPU record he set last week at Dallas Baptist University. He finished with 24 points along with Jase Miguez who also had 24 points on 9 of 16 shooting for the Yellow Jackets.

The Yellow Jackets made a strong push in the second half but could not overcome a 55-36 halftime deficit. 

Both teams were close in every stat category except for turnovers where Sul Ross had 13 compared to HPU's 20 and free-throws with Sul Ross at 89.5% (17 of 19) and HPU at 55.6% (10 of 18).

Following Cox and Miguez with 24 points each was Tyrell Thompson with 13 points and nine rebounds.

BJ Hollis led Sul Ross with 25 points followed by Logan Dixon with 21 points.

Howard Payne is now 1-9 overall and Sul Ross stands at 4-4 on the year. The Jackets will play next on Jan. 2nd at home versus Belhaven University at 7:30 pm.