Box Score

BROWNWOOD, Texas – The McMurry University men's basketball guaranteed at least a share of the American Southwest Conference West Division title Thursday night at Brownwood Coliseum with a 83-63 win over Howard Payne. McMurry moved to 15-5 in league play and stand at least one game ahead of all divisional foes with one game to spare.

If McMurry beats Sul Ross State in Alpine Saturday afternoon, it will take the outright ASC West title. The last time McMurry took the crown, it shared first place with Mary Hardin-Baylor in 2009.

Derick Sumpter led a balanced scoring effort for McMurry with 16 points and three assists; he also played the game without a turnover. Teddy Chambers had a double-double with 10 points and 13 rebounds while Bryant Taylor and Jaden Isler each added 10 points as well.

Howard Payne struggled to rebound as McMurry took that battle 53-30. In addition, McMurry shot 52 percent from the floor while Howard Payne managed just a 33 percent effort on 23 of 70 shooting.

McMurry led 12-2 to start the game, however the Yellow Jackets crawled back in with eight straight points. Irwin hit two-straight 3-pointers to give Howard Payne the lead at 16-14. After back-and-forth action, McMurry's Taylor knocked down two free throws with 6:06 remaining after trailing by one to spark a 14-4 run to end the half and McMurry led 40-31 at halftime.

From there the momentum carried McMurry into the second period and the visitors built as much as a 25-point lead in the second half. Steven Jones led McMurry with 16 rebounds, and he added nine points.

In the losing effort Brandon Irwin had 20 points while Michael Thompson had 12 points and 11 rebounds for HPU. The Yellow Jackets fell to 5-19 overall and 4-16 in league play.

McMurry picked up its 17th overall win and will look for the outright ASC West title Saturday at 3 p.m. in Alpine if the team can defeat the Lobos.