BROWNWOOD, Texas - Catching fire in the first half, the East Texas Baptist University men's basketball team cruised to a 97-83 victory over the Howard Payne University Yellow Jackets. ETBU is now riding an eight-game winning streak as they own an 11-2 overall record and are 5-1 in American Southwest Conference play.
ETBU had a dominant performance from
Darrice Whitley, who scored a game-high 24 points and dished out five assists.
Robby Dooley (18 points),
Westin Riddick (17 points), and
Jordan Gosey (11 points, eight rebounds) also reached double-figures in the contest. Khyce Randall (23 points) and De'Marcus Hurd (22 points) led HPU in scoring while Colton Otts added 12 points. Randall also collected 12 rebounds to complete a double-double for HPU.
ETBU made 51.3% from the field, which was better than the 33.8% shot by HPU. ETBU also made 36.0% from three-point range and 50% from the free-throw line. HPU made 22.6% from the three-point area and 66.7% from the free-throw line. ETBU also scored 56 points in the paint while holding HPU to 30 points.
HPU would get their first and only lead of the contest on the very first basket just fifty-one seconds in. But Dooley would tie the game sixteen seconds later and Riddick (18:01) would give ETBU a 5-2 lead on a three that ETBU would never relinquish. At 11:43, HPU trailed 14-9, which would be the closest HPU would get to as ETBU would go score six straight points (11:05-10:03) to lead 20-9, including a dunk by Whitley (10:34). ETBU would then increase the lead to 38-19 with an 18-10 run (9:52-4:42) as Dooley and Whitley combined for 15 points while
Nathan Fontenot added a three pointer (8:44). The final four minutes was low scoring as HPU cut the deficit to 41-25 at halftime.
ETBU would reach the twenty-point lead nearly three minutes in the game on a layup by Gosey (17:54). They would duplicate this five more times on a layup (17:28) and jumper (12:50) by Whitley, a three by Riddick (16:16), and layups by Fontenot (11:50), and Forte (11:35). ETBU would even get contributions by
Davis Robinson, who made two straight three pointers (9:34, 9:12) plus another bucket (7:35) that gave ETBU a 76-61 lead. HPU would stick around though and they would get as close as ten points at 91-81 (1:14). But any hopes of a potential comeback ended when Riddick sealed the win with a three with 1:01 left to make it 94-81. ETBU would then tack on three points by Whitley and finish with an 97-83 win.
Having finish the ASC West competition, ETBU will now play host to their first ASC East opponent in Texas-Dallas this Thursday at 7:30 PM.
