The Howard Payne Yellow Jacket basketball team held a 14 point halftime lead, but a big push early in the second half fueled the University of Texas – Tyler Patriots to a 78-73 Thursday in the Brownwood Coliseum.
Howard Payne ended the first half with a three pointer from Quentin Calloway to make the score 46-32, in favor of HPU. Calloway led all scorers in the first with 14 points on 5-10 shooting and 2-3 from the free-throw line.
The Patriots opened up the second with a 22-7 run inside the first five minutes of the half to take the lead back 54-53. After that both teams cooled down only scoring seven combined points over the next five minutes, with UT-Tyler still in the lead 58-56, with 9:45 remaining.
With one minute remaining in the game, the Jackets pulled within three points. But with UTT making their foul shots and HPU only able to make one of their final six three point attempts, the Yellow Jackets fell short, 78-73.
Three players hit double digits for HPU- Quentin Calloway 16, John Bryant 16, and Brandon Irwin 14. Bryant was a rebound short of a double-double with 9.
HPU ended the game with 39 percent shooting from the floor, 7 of 19 from the arc for 37 percent. The problem was the free throw shooting down the stretch; HPU was 8-15 from the free throw line in the second.
The Yellow Jackets move to 2-11 on the year and 2-7 in the American Southwest Conference. The UT-Tyler Patriots move to 8-4 overall and 4-3 in conference play.
The Yellow Jackets next game is on the road Jan. 14 at Concordia University Texas at 7:30 pm.
