BELTON – The Howard Payne Yellow Jackets basketball season ended without a victory Saturday, as the American Southwest Conference West Division champion and 10th-ranked Mary Hardin-Baylor Crusaders dished out a 96-66 defeat.
The Yellow Jackets finished with an 0-18 record, including 0-14 in conference action. HPU has lost 20 games in a row dating to last season and is 3-47 in the last 50 outings dating to the 2018-19 campaign.
In Saturday’s finale, HPU trailed 42-32 at halftime and was outscored 54-34 in the second half.
Mason Green tallied a game-high 14 points for HPU followed by 10 from Tyrell Thompson, nine from Jaylan Ballou, seven from James Helzer, six from Jerren Godfrey, five each from Evan Adkins and Harold Myart, four from Michael House, three from Reese Ridder, two from Kevion Collins and one point from Bryce Tousha.
UMHB (16-3, 13-0) received 26 points from Ty Prince, 22 from Josiah Johnson, 14 from Aedan Welch, and 11 from Carson Hammond.