BROWNWOOD, Texas — Hardin-Simmons' men's basketball team closed its regular season by beating Howard Payne, 88-76, in American Southwest Conference on Saturday afternoon at the Brownwood Coliseum.

In a game that featured the top two scorers in the ASC, HSU's Matt Addison led the Cowboys with a career-best 38 points.   Brandon Irwin continued his career-long trend of being locked down by Casey Riddle. Irwin had just nine points in the game on 3-of-8 shooting.  Irwin averages 19.6 points per game.

Despite a cold-shooting afternoon from the perimeter the Cowboys were in control throughout. HSU hit just 1-of-18 3-pointers in the first half. The Cowboys made up for it by going 18-for-23 at the free-throw line in the half and HSU led 49-35 at the break.  

Addison scored eight points in the first 1:05 of the second half and the Cowboys led by a comfortable margin for most of the second half. The teams combined to shoot 86 free throws.

John Derr had 13 points and Ryan Carlson added a double-double with 10 points and 10 rebounds. Josh Dada led Howard Payne with 18 points and Quentin Callaway added 14.

HSU closes its regular season with a record of 16-9 and finished in a second place tie in the ASC West with Mary Hardin-Baylor with a record of 15-6. Howard Payne closed out its season with a record of 5-20 overall and 4-17 in league play.

Hardin-Simmons will play East Texas Baptist at 2:30 on Friday in the ASC Tournament at UT-Dallas in Richardson.

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