BROWNWOOD, Texas – The Howard Payne University men's basketball team took down the Southwestern Pirates 113-111 in a double overtime thriller at the Brownwood Coliseum on Wednesday, November 22^nd.
 
The Yellow Jackets were able to jump out to a 45-39 lead at halftime powered by a strong 1^st half from Jarod Johnson. Southwestern came out of the break hot as they went on a 15-3 run to retake the lead from HPU.
 
Howard Payne led the Pirates 82-80 with one second left when a foul was called sending Southwestern to the line where they would knock down back-to-back free-throws to advance the game to it's first overtime.
 
Leading 99-97 with just 15 seconds left in the first overtime, Southwestern's Jacob Hester was able to free up for a game-tying layup with three seconds remaining to send the Yellow Jackets into their second overtime.
 
Down 111-109 with 30 seconds left, HPU's Jarod Johnson took it down the lane scoring a layup with a foul to give Howard Payne a chance to take the lead with 24 seconds remaining. Johnson was able to connect on the three-point play, giving HPU a 112-111 lead. The Yellow Jackets were able to turnover the Pirates on their last possession to seal the game, winning 113-111.
 
Howard Payne outscored the Pirates bench 52-18 led by 27 points from Jarod Johnson and 17 from Hudson Johnson. Southwestern outrebounded HPU 57-39 including 23 rebounds, only converting that into 17 second chance points. The Yellow Jackets were able to win the turnover battle forcing 17 Southwestern turnovers while only committing ten of their own.
 
The Yellow Jackets shot 48.2% from the field along with 15 treys on 46.9% shooting. The Pirates were held to 43.4% from the field, knocking down 13 threes of their own. Southwestern was able to make it to the charity strike 32 times, connecting on 26 of those attempts.
 
Howard Payne was led by an all-around performance from Jarod Johnson, posting 27 points, nine assists, and five rebounds. Following behind was Ben Phillip who racked up 21 points including five crucial three-pointers. Riley Fornerette finished with 19 points along with 17 from Hudson Johnson. Rounding out the five double-digit scorers for HPU was Armonie Ramey who recorded 13 points and a team-high seven rebounds.
 
Southwestern was led by two double-double performances from Brock Luechtefeld (21 points, 14 rebounds) and Luke Hatcher (24 points, 12 rebounds). Leading the Pirates in scoring was Jacob Hester who finished with 26 points and eight rebounds.
 
The Yellow Jackets were able to bounce back from a last second loss to Austin College the night before, defeating Southwestern 113-111 in double overtime. With a 4-2 record now, HPU will look to Saturday, November 25^th as they take on Texas Lutheran at the Brownwood Coliseum with tip-off set for 5:00 PM.