BROWNWOOD, Texas – For the second straight game, McMurry University Men's Basketball went to overtime, but found itself on the right side of the scoreboard this time around with an 85-76 win at Howard Payne Thursday evening.
McMurry (1-6, 1-2) snaps a six-game losing skid with the win and earns its first American Southwest Conference victory of the season. Howard Payne falls to 0-7 overall and 0-3 in ASC play.
The War Hawks took an early lead within the first minute of the game and held that lead until there was 7:09 remaining in the second half. The final seven minutes were back-and-forth and eventually led to overtime, where HPU owned a 75-74 lead at the 2:39 mark.
The one point deficit would not last for long, as McMurry flipped the score to a one point lead on a Remy Minor layup with 2:05 remaining. HPU retied the game with a free throw, but the final two minutes were all McMurry as Shaydon Campbell sank the go-ahead free throws to make it 78-76. A DJ Worrell layup, four free throws by Jordan Sherman and one from Matt Pena iced the game for good in the closing moments.
Four War Hawks scored in double-digits tonight, led by Minor with 17 points. Minor scored just two points at the break, but emerged in the final 25 minutes with 15 points to take over the game.
Sherman, who went 6-8 from the charity stripe, finished with his second double-double of the season at 12 points and 10 rebounds.
Junior forward DJ Worrell made six of his seven shots and finished with 15 points on the night. Worrell was also one rebound short of a double-double and had the team's highest efficiency rating at 19.0. Sophomore guard Shaydon Campbell added 12 points in the effort.
McMurry led for over 35 minutes in tonight's game and never fell behind by more than two possessions. The team shot 48.5 percent from the field (32-66) and won the free throw battle with a 16-25 showing at the line for 64.0 percent.
Nearly half of McMurry's points came from the paint as the team finished with a 40-26 advantage in that category. The War Hawks also won the fast break battle with 20 breakaway points, while limiting HPU to only three.
McMurry will now look for its second win on Saturday as it completes four game road swing at Sul Ross State University. Tip-off from Alpine, Texas is set for 3 p.m.
