The Howard Payne Yellow Jacket basketball team’s late rally come up short and they fell to LeTourneau University 70-81 in American Southwest Conference action at the Solheim Arena.
LeTourneau (1-2 overall, 1-0 ASC) led 46-24 at the break and had its largest lead of the game (53-27) early in the second half. But Howard Payne rallied and trimmed the margin to six (72-66) before LeTourneau pulled away.
After trading baskets for the first seven minutes, LeTourneau used a 16-4 run, capped by an Eric Clark 3-pointer to give the LeTourneau a 28-16 lead with 7:59 remaining. LeTourneau continued to push the margin, taking a 33-16 advantage with 5:44 left another 3-pointer by Clark.
Howard Payne (0-3, 0-1) couldn’t get much going offensively as the first half belonged to LeTourneau taking the lead 46-24 at the break.
The second half belonged to Howard Payne as LeTourneau took its largest lead, 53-27, after a Hughes 3-pointer with 16:38 remaining. It appeared at that point that LeTourneau was on cruise control, but Howard Payne had other ideas.
Howard Payne climbed back into the game by using a 29-13 run, capped by a Keith Perry 3-pointer with 6:26 left. The deficit dropped to 72-66 after a jumper by Henry Valladares with 3:57 remaining, but that would be as close as Howard Payne would get.
Brandon Irwin paced Howard Payne with 20 points on 7-of-18 shooting. Perry finished with a double-double, 17 points and 10 boards. John Bryant chipped in with 14 points as Howard Payne was 23-of-59 (39 percent) shooting.
LeTourneau’s Jourdan Hughes scored 11 of his team-high 17 points in open period. He was 5-of-7 from the floor and 4-of-4 from behind the 3-point arc. Will Smith, who was 5-of-7 from the field, added 14 points and eight rebounds.
Howard Payne will travel on to Marshall, Texas to play East Texas Baptist University on Monday at 7:30 pm.
