SHERMAN, Texas – The Austin College men’s basketball team pulled within two points late but were unable to overcome visiting Howard Payne, falling 74-67 to the Yellow Jackets on Monday night in Hughey Gym. The ‘Roos are now 5-9 overall on the season with the defeat. 

Both teams got out to a hot start offensively, with Howard Payne taking an early 9-3 lead in the game’s opening minutes before the ‘Roos battled back with three pointers from Josh Dickerman and Josh Quinn trimming the margin to 16-14 with 11:14 left in the opening half. A Khyce Randall three gave HPU a 19-14 lead, but Dickerman buried another trey and buckets from Brian Baehl and Justin Wade gave Austin College a 22-19 edge with 9:02 on the clock. 

The Austin College lead grew to seven following another triple from Quinn and a short jumper by Patrick Johnson to make it 31-24. However, the Jackets would close the half on a 13-1 run highlighted by seven points from Rickey Guillory to take a 37-32 lead into the locker room. 

An early three-point-play from Austin Freet and a three pointer from Austin Wells squared things up at 41 apiece with 17:32 left to play, but Howard Payne responded with a 7-0 run. The Jackets extended the margin to nine points at 60-51 with 9:27 left in the game, but the ‘Roos used a 9-0 run to pull even with the clock showing 6:29. 

Guillory and Andres Rivera traded the next five points for each team to keep things even at 65 each with 4:22 to play, but a Shadd Cole jumper gave Howard Payne the lead for good at 67-65. The Yellow Jackets would outscore Austin College 7-2 over the final three minutes to hand the ‘Roos the seven point loss. 

Wells paced Austin College with 13 points as the only ‘Roo to reach double figures, knocking down 5-of-9 shots and 3-of-6 from long distance. Freet grabbed 10 boards and chipped in nine points and Quinn hit three treys to finish with nine points in the loss, while Baehl dished out six assists and Justin Wade swatted four shots. 

Guillory led all scorers with 20 points, adding seven rebounds and seven blocked shots, and Randall added 19 points, hitting 4-of-7 from deep and adding eight rebounds. Howard Payne shot 46.3% from the field in the game, while the ‘Roos were just 31.9% from the floor. 

Austin College athletic teams participate as a member of the NCAA Division III and the Southern Collegiate Athletic Conference.