MARSHALL, Texas – Riding the momentum of a sharp shooting first half, the East Texas Baptist University men's basketball team notched a dominant 92-71 victory over Howard Payne University in American Southwest Conference play on Monday night. ETBU improves to 5-2 overall and 3-1 in the ASC East Division.

Nathan Fontenot led an attack of five players in double figures scoring 20 points in 33 minutes of play. Westin Riddick caught fire from beyond the three point line posting 19 points on 5-of-10 shooting from deep. Robby Dooley recorded his second straight double-double, with 13 points and 11 rebounds. Jarell Taylor and Nolan Johnson scored 10 and 11 points respectively to round out a well-balanced contribution across the board. As a team, ETBU shot 31-of-64 (48.4%) from the field and 9-of-26 (34.6%) from beyond the arc. Timothy Aguero and Jarvis Jones each scored 13 points to lead HPU.

Talen Davis scored the game's first field goal one minute into the contest with a layup to tie the game at 2-2. Taylor would have the response for the Tigers, scoring a layup of his own off the feed from Dooley to give ETBU the 4-2 advantage at the 18:08 mark of the first half. A double-clutch layup by Dooley on the breakaway capped an early 10-0 spurt to increase the score to 12-2 with 15:29 on the clock. A 6-0 run by HPU would narrow the deficit to four (12-8) until a rain of three pointers by Fontenot and Riddick sparked a 17-8 barrage, putting the Tigers on top by 13 (29-16) with just under 10 minutes to play until halftime. ETBU's lead would increase further as a driving layup by Johnson plus the foul put the home team on top 40-20 (5:31). Riddick would further extend the lead, after nailing a deep three pointer with 12 seconds remaining in the half, giving the Tigers the 54-30 lead heading into the locker room.

ETBU began the second half on a cold streak, as the Yellow Jackets embarked on a 20-6 run to narrow the wide margin to 10 (60-50) with just under 13 minutes remaining in the half. Both Riddick and Taylor combined to score the nine of the next 11 points for the Tigers, capped off by a fast break layup by Christopher Haynes to put ETBU back on top by 21 (71-50) with 9:59 remaining. ETBU would go on top by as many as 25 before closing out the ballgame down the stretch with the 92-71 wire to wire win over HPU.

The Tigers will take a break from ASC play and will make the trip to Shreveport, La., to compete in the Holiday Classic on Friday, Dec. 15. The tournament is set to kick-off at 5:30 p.m. from the Golden Dome.