ABILENE, Texas -McMurry University used a 19-0 run late in the second half to pull away and defeat Howard Payne 99-88 Saturday in American Southwest Conference West Division action.
HPU was led by Brandon Irwin with 21 points followed by freshman Michael Thompson with a career high 19 points with six rebounds. Quentin Calloway had 16 and Keith Perry and John Bryant added 10 points each.
McM’s Jeremie Hart scored 33 points and grabbed 10 rebounds and Robert Moreno added 12 assists. Chris Hergenreter had 18 points.
Howard Payne led on three different occasions in the second half, but Hart’s two free throws with 9:29 left began the 19-0 stretch that wasn’t snapped until HPU’s Keith Perry hit two free throws with 4:11 left. From there, the Yellow Jackets couldn’t close the gap to single digits.
McMurry shot 52 percent in the first half, but caught even more fire in the second when it hit 21 of 32 shots from the floor for a 66-percent effort. HPU kept pace with McMurry in the first period with a 52-percent effort.
McMurry improves to 16-7 overall and 14-5 in league play while the Yellow Jackets falls to 6-17 overall and 6-13 in league play.
The Yellow Jackets will finish out the regular season next week at home against Concordia on Thursday and Mary Hardin-Baylor on Saturday.
