BROWNWOOD, Texas – The Howard Payne University men's basketball team could not hold on in the second half as they lost to the University of the Ozarks 91-83 at the Brownwood Coliseum on Saturday, December 2^nd.
 
The Yellow Jackets were able to jump on the Ozarks right out of the gate, forcing nine Eagle turnovers in the first half. HPU would head into the break with a 44-41 lead led by ten points from Jarod Johnson.
 
Howard Payne was not able to hold on to their lead long, as the Ozarks would use 13 second half offensive rebounds to take the lead from the Yellow Jackets. HPU could not complete the comeback, losing 91-83.
 
Howard Payne was outrebounded 56-37 including 21 offensive rebounds for the Eagles which resulted in 21 second chance points. HPU was able to score 16 points off of 13 turnovers from the Eagles.
 
The Yellow Jackets shot 40% from the field on 65 total attempts as they struggled from behind the arc only converting three of their 15 attempts. The Ozarks finished 26-69 from the field for a 37.7% rate while knocking down 12 treys as well.
 
Leading the way for HPU was Jarod Johnson who scored 20 points. Rounding out the three double-digit scorers for the Yellow Jackets was Armonie Ramey with 14 points and six rebounds and Myles Brown scoring ten of his own.
 
Howard Payne was led on the defensive end by Carter May and Julius Stephenson who recorded three blocks a piece.
 
The Eagles were led by a 23-point, eight rebound performance from Josh Ukpe. The Ozarks also had two players finish with double-doubles – Jordan Jenkins (13 points, 15 rebounds) and Timquorian Johnson (13 points, 11 rebounds).
 
HPU will look to bounce back from a two-game losing streak as they travel to Hardin-Simmons on Thursday, December 7^th with tip-off set for 7:30 PM.