Box Score

The McMurry men dropped its third-straight contest Thursday night, as Howard Payne was able to beat McM on its home floor for the first time since 1996. The two teams were tied with 8:03 left before HPU went on a 13-4 run and held off a late rally to win 66-63.

Alex Robles hit a 3-pointer with 30 seconds left to cut the lead to three and then McMurry got the ball back with 22 seconds remaining, however, Casey Jones' 3-point attempt missed and the Yellow Jackets completed the season sweep over McMurry.

HPU's Lee Scott, who scored seven points in the 13-4 run, finished the game with 15 points to lead the Yellow Jackets. Tom Hermann had 14, Bryan Blalock had 12 points and Brock Woods added 11 in the balanced scoring attack. HPU shot 40.9 percent for the game.

Robles led McMurry with 15 points on 6 of 14 shooting. DeWayne Hall had 13 points off the bench in the losing effort while Chris Gammage had nine points and nine boards. McMurry shot 41.7 percent from the floor but had 17 turnovers.

McMurry led by four points at half, 29-25. However, the home team couldn't pull away and never led by more than four points in the second half.

McMurry fell to 8-12 overall and 5-11 in the American Southwest Conference. McMurry will need to win out to avoid its first losing season since the 1992-1993 season. HPU improved to 11-9 overall and 9-7 in league play.

McMurry plays host to Sul Ross State Saturday with tipoff scheduled at 3 p.m.