ABILENE, Texas – Hardin-Simmons' Cowboy basketball team took down the Howard Payne Yellow Jackets 102-92 and became the American Southwest Conference 2024-25 regular season champions on Thursday night at the Mabee Athletic Complex.
 
HSU shot out of the gates with a 12-2 run to start the game, led by ten points in the first two minutes form senior Austin Brewer.
 
Hardin-Simmons got up by as many as 18 points on a couple occasions in the first half, including heading in for halftime leading 60-42 over Howard Payne.
 
The Cowboys had their largest lead of 22 points early in the second half, but the Yellow Jackets got within nine points down 78-69 with under 11 minutes to play.
 
The Cowboys pushed back out to lead by 18 points at 98-80 with four minutes left and Howard Payne scratched a few more across at the end to make it a 102-92 win for Hardin-Simmons.
 
The Cowboys were led by Brewer who scored 28 points. He shot 9-14 and made 3-5 3-point shots and 7-8 free throws. Brewer added eight boards and three assists in the win.
 
Chris Bryant finished with 18 points and ten rebounds to lead the team. Trevion Howell had a career-high, scoring 15 points and Will Bartoszek finished with 11 points in the win.
 
The Cowboys improve to 14-9 and 7-0 in the ASC and clinch the top spot in the ASC tournament for the second season in a row for head coach Matt Brackett and his staff. HSU is off on Saturday and will get back in action at Mary Hardin-Baylor on Feb. 20 at 7:30 p.m. in Belton.
 
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