“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.”
Down as many as 13 points in the first half, Howard Payne (0-5, 0-1) trimmed the halftime deficit to 40-39 and led 42-40 following a three-pointer by Reese Ridder with 17:47 left in the contest. UT-Dallas (2-0, 0-0) responded with the next 10 points to regain a 50-42 edge with 14:08 to go, and never trailed again.
The Yellow Jackets shaved the deficit to 55-52 on a three-pointer by Jerren Godfrey with 11:12 left, but UT-Dallas stretched the lead back to 11 points, 71-60, at the 5:59 mark.
Howard Payne shot 37 percent (23 of 62) from the floor, 27 percent (9 of 34) from three-point land and just 57 percent (17 of 30) at the free throw line. The Yellow Jackets also committed 20 turnovers that led to 21 UT-Dallas points.
“We missed 13 free throws, then with the points off turnovers, and second-chance points, we’re just giving points away,” Drummond said. “You just can’t do that and right now we’re averaging about 40 points in terms of giving that up.”
Ridder led Howard Payne with 15 points trailed by 11 from James Helzer, 10 each from Jaylan Ballou and Tyrell Thompson, Michael House and Luke Cox with seven apiece, Godfrey with six, and Kevion Collins and Demetrius Johnson with three points each.
UT-Dallas sank 41 percent (29 of 71) of its shots, 19 percent (4 of 21) of its treys, and 67 percent (20 of 30) of its free throws. The Comets also owned a 53-41 edge in rebounds.
“We’re moving in the right direction, UT-Dallas is one of best teams in the conference,” Drummond said. “It was a battle and I liked where we were going, I liked the way our guys were competing, but at the end of the day when you get free throws you have to knock them down, you can’t give up second-chance points and we have to quit turning the ball over.”
The Yellow Jackets are back in action at 7:30 p.m. Thursday at Louisiana College.
Story by Derrick Stuckly