MARSHALL, Texas – In a wire to wire contest, the East Texas Baptist University men's basketball team (5-3, 1-3 ASC) came away with their first American Southwest Conference win of the year over Howard Payne University (3-4, 2-1 ASC), 77-72. It came down to the final two mintues of the game, but ETBU knocked down clutch free throws late to seal the victory.

ETBU was led by Jordan Quillian with 19 points, Tyler Day had 15 points, and Jordan Gray had 10 points. Jordan Gosey had a team high 12 rebounds, nine of those were in the first half, and Quillian finished one rebound shy of a double-double with nine.

Starting off strong, ETBU maintained the lead going into halftime up 33-27 over HPU. ETBU knocked down 12-14 from the free throw line in the first half to stay in the lead. ETBU used a sharp-shooting second half to grab control of the game late in the half. Landin Brown and Quillian would put the lead out of reach for HPU for the final score of 77-72.

ETBU shot 43.6% from the floor in the game and a season high 88.5% from the free throw line. ETBU outrebounded HPU 43-37 in the contest, and outshot HPU from all three phases.

HPU was led by Khyce Randall with 27 points and Rickey Guillroy had 14 points. J Bailey had 12 rebounds to lead HPU. HPU had just six assists, but lead the turnover battle with just 10 turnovers.

ETBU will return to action next Saturday in a rematch against Concordia University at 3:00 p.m. in Austin, Texas. The game will follow the women's basketball game. ETBU defeated Concordia University 100-96 earlier this season.