[Story, photo courtesy of HPUSports.com]
The Howard Payne University men’s basketball team took down the Texas Lutheran University Bull Dogs 97-76 at the Brownwood Coliseum on Saturday, November 25th.
The Yellow Jackets started off strong as they jumped out to a 24-7 lead early in the 1st half. HPU would lead by as much as 21 in the half before heading into the break leading Texas Lutheran 48-39.
TLU crawled back into the game, cutting the lead down to three points with 14 minutes remaining in the game. The Yellow Jackets were able to extend their lead and earn their fifth win of the season with a score of 97-76.
Howard Payne forced 17 Texas Lutheran turnovers led by Riley Fornerette’s three steals. The Yellow Jackets turned these into 22 points. TLU gained the edge on the glass, outrebounding HPU 47-35 with 18 offensive rebounds.
The Yellow Jackets shot a season-high 55.4% from the field while also recording another season-high in 3PT% shooting 50%. The Bulldogs finished 35.1% from the field on 74 attempts, knocking down 12 three-pointers as well.
Leading the way for HPU was Riley Fornerette with a career-high 26 points to go along with three steals and three rebounds. Following behind was Hudson Johnson with 15 of his own and Ben Phillip with 13. Rounding out the double-digit scorers was Armonie Ramey scoring ten points.
The Bulldogs were led by a 20-point performance from Mason Wallace and Kris Jones adding 14 of his own.
HPU earns their second straight win with a 97-76 victory over Texas Lutheran, improving their record to 5-2. The Yellow Jackets will open up conference play Thursday, November 30th as they take on UT Dallas with tip-off set for 7:30 PM.