James Helzer (33) scored 13 points and a grabbed a team-high nine rebounds in HPU’s loss to Concordia Thursday. [Photo by Derrick Stuckly]
The Howard Payne Yellow Jackets shaved a 19-point second-half deficit to four, but could not complete their comeback attempt as the Concordia Tornados emerged with a 92-84 American Southwest Conference victory Thursday night at the Brownwood Coliseum.
The Yellow Jackets (0-12, 0-8) were plagued by 26 turnovers that resulted in 21 points for Concordia (2-4, 1-4). The Tornados also outscored Howard Payne, 44-28, in the paint, despite the Yellow Jackets’ 39-34 edge in rebounds.
Howard Payne converted 48 percent (29 of 61) of its field goals and 41 percent (13 of 32) of its three-pointers, but just 54 percent (13 of 24) of its free throws. Meanwhile, Concordia sank 52 percent (34 of 65) of its shots, 36 percent (10 of 27) of its treys and 64 percent (14 of 22) of its attempts from the charity stripe.
Jaylan Ballou (4) scored 12 points for HPU Saturday. [File photo by Derrick Stuckly]
CLARKSVILLE, Arkansas – The Howard Payne University men’s basketball put together a great run to close out the game but fell in the end 94-88 to the University of the Ozarks Saturday afternoon.
Down by 18 points with four minutes to play in the game, the Yellow Jackets battled back to cut the Eagles lead to just five points with 20 seconds left to play. HPU’s James Helzer hit a three-pointer with 20 second left to make the score 93-88.
After Ozarks missed two free-throws with 14 seconds left, a three-pointer by HPU would not fall with nine second remaining. Ozarks then hit 1 of 2 free-throws to secure the game 94-88.
Tyrell Thompson (5) goes us for a dunk in Howard Payne’s loss to UT-Dallas Saturday. [Photo by Derrick Stuckly]The Howard Payne Yellow Jackets hung close with two-time reigning American Southwest Conference East Division champion UT-Dallas, but the visiting Comets emerged with an 82-72 victory in a non-conference tilt Saturday at the Brownwood Coliseum.
“There was some good and some bad and we had our moments,” said Yellow Jackets head coach Troy Drummond. “Our energy level was good and offensively we shot a little bit better than what we normally do from the field, but we’re still rushing the ball and taking some bad shots, but that’s guys trying to get something going.”