GEORGETOWN, Texas - The Howard Payne University men's basketball team was led by freshman standout Jarod Johnson in a 76-63 road loss at Southwestern University Friday evening in non-conference play.

HPU's Jarod Johnson finished with 14 points and two assists for the Yellow Jackets. Johnson was followed by Harold Myart with 12 points and six rebounds.

Devon Bailey had nine points and Armonie Ramey added seven points, and a team high eight rebounds and five steals.

Trailing 33-21 at the break, the Jackets tied the game at 35-35 to start the second period sparked by back to back Jarod Johnson three-pointers to start the period.

Midway through the second, Southwestern put together a run and built a double digit lead that the Jackets would not be able to recover from. The Pirates were 19 of 19 at the free-throw line in the second half.

Though shooting 43.2% from the field in the second half, the Jackets finished 25 of 70 from the field (35.7%) in the game. HPU did hold Southwestern to 36.8% shooting from the floor in the game.

HPU committed just 10 turnovers while forcing 16 Pirate turnovers. But it would be Southwestern holding a 47-33 rebounding advantage and shooting 14 more free-throws that proved to be the difference in the game.

Southwestern was led by Jacob Hester with 25 points and Josh Jones with 12 points.

HPU is now 2-9 overall and Southwestern stands at 4-8 on the year. The Yellow Jackets will finish out their non-conference schedule on Saturday at Texas Lutheran University in Seguin, Texas. It will be a 2:00 pm start time.