ABILENE, Texas – Hardin-Simmons' men's basketball team could not slow down the hot-shooting Sul Ross State Lobos in a first-place showdown in the American Southwest Conference West Division, falling 108-98 in a boisterous Mabee Complex on Thursday evening.

The win puts the Lobos at 8-3 in conference play and the Cowboys are a game back at 7-4. Both teams are 12-8 overall. Sul Ross State also will have the tiebreaker advantage over the Cowboys, essentially giving them a two-game lead in the battle for the ASC West. The champion of the ASC West will host the conference tournament.

The teams played a close first half with neither team leading by more than seven points. Sul Ross State led 43-38 at halftime.

The Lobos came out of the halftime locker room ant took immediate control with a 13-2 run over the first 2:56 of the half to push the lead to 56-43. HSU cut it back to eight and then the Lobos exploded again and made the lead 77-57 with 8:42 to play.

HSU scored 17 points in the final 1:20 of the game but could not get the deficit lower than nine points.

Sul Ross State shot 39-of-65 for the game for a 60 percent shooting night and were even better in the second half when they shot 65.7 percent from the floor and 15-of-15 at the free throw line. The Lobos were 19-of-20 on the night and outscored the Cowboys 52-28 in the paint.

HSU shot 48.4 percent for the night and hit 15-of-33 3-pointers and 21-of-24 free throws.

Nathaniel Jack led the Cowboys with 22 points and Christian O'Neal added 21 points and seven assists. Duane Hopper had 18 points, Ryan Leiss 13 and Justin Jones added 12.

Rocky Feliciano and Alex Harrison had 24 points each for the Lobos, and Caleb Thomasson had 19 points and Xavier Webb 15.

HSU will return to action Saturday at 3 p.m. when it hosts Howard Payne.