BROWNWOOD, Texas -- 27 turnovers doomed men's hoops as they fell, 114-101, to Howard Payne at the Brownwood Coliseum.

Deonte Jackson (29) and Jackson Mayes (24) combined for 53 points, while Cooper Smith had his first career double-double, scoring 15 points and snagging 10 rebounds.

After the YellowJackets fell behind by eight in the early going, they ran off 11 consecutive points to take a 13-10 lead. Mayes, Caedmon Liebengood, and Teigan Edwards did the scoring in this stretch.

The LeTourneau lead got as high as seven in the first half, but the Yellow Jackets of Howard Payne would then go on a 28-10 run to take an 11-point lead with 2:51 to go in the half. The YellowJackets would cut it down to six at the half, however.

A Walker Blaine layup early in the second half got the lead down to two, but a subsequent 15-2 Howard Payne blitz gave LeTourneau another big deficit to overcome. 

They almost got there, closing the gap to three on a 13-2 run with 3:42 to play. Howard Payne would have one final stretch though, as they outscored the YellowJackets 13-3 the rest of the way to take the win.

LeTourneau falls to 15-7 (2-4 ASC), while Howard Payne improves to 11-11 (2-3 ASC).

UP NEXT

LeTourneau returns to Solheim Arena on Thursday as they face Mary Hardin-Baylor at 7:30 p.m.
 

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