MEMPHIS, TN –The Howard Payne men’s basketball team got a career high 39 points out of Brandon Irwin to win their season opener 81-79 over Rhodes College Monday evening.

The Yellow Jackets dominated the paint outscoring Rhodes 32-16 under the basket. Howard Payne also out-rebounded Rhodes 41-31.

Howard Payne found themselves down at halftime 35-33 only shooting 38% from the field. The Jackets raised their shooting to 46% in the second.

The Jackets took a 41-35 lead in the second half on a layup by Henry Valladares with 17:29 on the clock. Rhodes battled back and retook the lead extending it to seven with 11 minutes to play.

Howard Payne made their move at the five minute mark to regain the lead 72-70 on a Donovan Gardner layup with 3:18 to play.

Howard Payne held strong and Brandon Irwin hit two of three free-throws in the last 10 seconds to capture the 81-79 win for the Jackets.

Irwin finished with a career high 39 points, he was 12 of 17 from the field and 13-16 from the free-throw line. Freshman Donovan Gardner had a great game adding 10 points. Valladares scored eight and grabbed eight rebounds.

Rhodes was led by Andrew Galow with 24 points and six assists followed by Joey Miller with 13 and John Dunavant with 12.

Howard Payne starts the season at 1-0 and Rhodes stands at 0-1. The Jackets will be in Holly Springs, MS on Tuesday playing Rust College at 7:00 pm.