ABILENE, Texas – Hardin-Simmons' Cowboy basketball team won wild finish at McMurry 81-79 after ending regulation with four straight lead changes to get the game into overtime.
HSU got up by 13 points late in the first half before the War Hawks went on a run to make it a halftime Cowboy lead 30-24.
McMurry opened the second half by going up to its largest lead of the night at 51-46 War Hawks with just under 10 minutes left.
The Cowboys led 65-64 with three minutes to go in the second half before McMurry hit a jumper to lead 66-65.
Cowboy head coach
Matt Brackett drew up a play in a timeout that led to a
Chris Bryant dunk to give HSU the lead 67-66 with less than two minutes remaining.
The War Hawks hit a 3-pointer with 40 seconds left to take the lead 69-67 and blocked the first Cowboy attempt to save the game. Bryant hit a jumper with 12 seconds on the clock to send the game to overtime at 69-69.
The Cowboys got up by seven quickly in overtime and held on to win 81-79. There were 36 lead changes with 18 from each team, and 14 tied scores with seven by the Cowboys and the War Hawks throughout the night.
Bryant led the Cowboys with 24 points shooting 9-14 and
Austin Brewer had 21 points with 17 rebounds for HSU.
Junior transfer
DJ Jones hit five 3-pointers and scored 17 points for Hardin-Simmons and
Silas Livingston led with five assists at McMurry.
The Cowboys improve to 2-1 on the season and will open at home in the Mabee Athletic Complex on Friday night against the University of St. Thomas at 7:30 p.m.
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