ABILENE, Texas – Hardin-Simmons' Cowboy basketball team powered past the Howard Payne Yellow Jackets 91-79 on Thursday night in American Southwest Conference play at the Mabee Athletic Complex.
A slow start from both teams found the game at a 13-11 Cowboy lead a few minutes in, followed by a dry spell broken at the 9-minute mark by a Howard Payne 3-pointer to make it 14-13.
Will Bartoszek scored eight points in the next two minutes to take the Cowboys out ahead 21-17. HSU went in, up 36-31 in the first half after shooting 28% on 50 shots to Howard Payne's 33% on 33 shots.
The Cowboys kept the lead the entire second half, going up by as much as 18 points at one point. The second half scored 55-48 Hardin-Simmons, with both teams finding more consistency going towards the rim in the 91-79 final score for the Cowboy win.
HSU led in rebounding 53-45 over Howard Payne and won the turnover battle with only 12 Cowboy turnovers to 23 for the Yellow Jackets.
Austin Brewer had a career high 25 points shooting 10-21 from the field with three 3-pointers. Brewer also had a career high 20 rebounds against Howard Payne.
Bartoszek finished with 24 shooting 8-19 and also had a double-double with 11 Cowboy rebounds. He had six assists to lead HSU as well.
Jalen McGee scored 13 points and freshman
Christian Bryant had ten points for Hardin-Simmons.
The Cowboys improve to 6-2 and 3-0 in ASC play with a non-conference game against Sul Ross State on Saturday at 3 p.m. in the Mabee Complex.
--- www.hsuathletics.com ---
