McMurry University shots a red hot 56% from the field to down the Howard Payne University men’s basketball team 101-89 Thursday at Kimbrell Arena.
McMurry shots 56% from the field in the first half to gain a 53-36 halftime advantage. Howard Payne was outrebounded 27-12 in the opening half.
Howard Payne falls to 9-15 overall and 7-13 in ASC play. McMurry improves to 16-8 overall and 12-8 in conference.
With McMurry leading by 20 points with less than three minutes remaining, the Yellow Jackets put together a run and cut the McMurry lead to 11 with 1:30 remaining. That was as close as the Jackets would get falling 101-89. HPU did close the rebounding gap in the second half, 39-38 McMurry.
Brandon Gould led HPU with 20 points and six assists. Brandon Irwin followed closely with 19 points and nine rebounds. Joshua Dada had 14 points and six rebounds. Quentin Calloway added 13 points.
McMurry’s Steven Jones led all with 28 points. Jaden Isler finished with 14 points and 11 assists. Dominick Walker and Bryce Hill each had 13. Walker also grabbed 11 rebounds.
Howard Payne will finish out the regular season at Hardin-Simmons on Saturday.
The Howard Payne University women’s basketball could not recover from first half shooting woes and fell 60-42 to McMurry University Thursday at Kimbrell Arena.
Howard Payne shot only 19% from the field in the first half to give McMurry 30-15 halftime lead. The Lady Jackets committed 12 first half turnovers. McMurry was 5 of 7 from behind the arc to open up a 15 point halftime lead.
Howard Payne now stands at 20-4 overall and 16-4 in conference play. HPU is now in second place in the ASC West Division standings. McMurry with the win improves to 17-7 overall and 15-5 in conference.
Even though Howard Payne improved their shooting percentage to start the second half, McMurry would extend their lead to 18, 47-29 with 9:45 to play.
The Lady Jackets were unable to get back in the game in the closing minutes and fell 60-42. McMurry scored 21 points off of 23 HPU turnovers while the Lady Jackets only recorded 6 points off 16 McMurry turnovers.
Brittany Roberson led all scorers with 15 points and seven rebounds. Roshonda Gayden grabbed a team high nine rebounds. No other Lady Jackets were in double digits in scoring.
Tory Salazar led McMurry with 13 points on 4 of 5 shooting. Celeste Belizario added 12 and MJ Vickers and Keshia Collins each had 10. Collins also grabbed 12 rebounds.
Howard Payne will finish out the regular season at Hardin-Simmons on Saturday before heading to the conference tournament in Pineville, LA next weekend.