LONGVIEW – How's that for openers?
 
LeTourneau University men's basketball team beat Howard Payne, 100-63, Tuesday in the season opener as Andrew Eberhardt scored a career-high 31 points on 11 of 22 shooting. The junior guard canned seven three-pointers -- one shy of his career best – in dynamite performance.
 
Eberhardt hit back-to-back triples before the 3:00 mark in the opening half as LETU built a 46-27 lead. He buried five 3s in the first half. LeTourneau shot 20 of 40 from the field in the half. Eberhardt scored 21 points on 8 of 15 shooting in the first 20 minutes.
 
Eberhardt also had 11 rebounds, four steals, three assists and a block. Deonte Jackson had 16 points, six assists and three steals, while shooting 6 of 12 from the floor. Elijah Gerber scored 13 points, Jordan Pride had six points, seven assists and three steals, and Kyce Wilson scored nine points. Kyle Matthews had seven points, four rebounds, four assists and one of LETU's 12 steals.
 
The YellowJackets shot 52 percent from the floor, and went 10 of 28 from 3-point range.
 
Howard Payne's Tyrell Thompson scored 15 points, and grabbed seven boards. Michael House had 12 points, and went 6-for-6 from the free throw line.
 
LeTourneau outscored Howard Payne, 24-7, in points off turnovers. The YellowJackets outscored the Yellow Jackets, 18-2, in second chance points, and 21-1 in transition. LETU outscored HPU, 50-16, in the paint.
 
Howard Payne shot 10 of 30 from the floor in the first half, and was outrebounded, 27-18. LETU won the battle on the boards, 52-31, in the game. LeTourneau led for 37:28 in a game where the lead changed hands once.
 
LETU led 50-31 at halftime, and opened the second half with a 10-0 run, finished off on a layup by Matthews at the 17:20 mark. Jackson knocked down a jumper 2:11 later to extend the lead to 66-36. Taye Carter's layup on a find from Warren Richardson put the YellowJackets ahead, 75-36.
 
LeTourneau will host North American University in an exhibition 2 p.m. Wednesday. Seating capacity is 100 fans, with priority given to parents from both teams. Masks are mandatory, and social distancing in the designated seating area is required.