After Howard Payne scored the game’s first basket Concordia used an 11-0 run capped by a George Freeman three pointer to take an 11-2 advantage early on. CUA held the lead until the 4:51 mark, when Lee Scott hit a pair of free throws to give the Yellowjackets a 37-35 advantage. The Tornados quickly recovered grabbing a 42-40 lead on lay-up by Valentino Maxwell and then moving the score to 47-44 at the break.
The Yellowjackets came out sharp in the second half, taking the lead and pushing the margin to five on a Matt Zinser lay-up at the 16:15 mark that gave HPU a 58-53 lead. The lead changed seven more times before Howard Payne grabbed an 83-81 lead at the 4:37 mark that lasted for the duration of the game. Howard Payne pushed their lead to 10 on a dunk by Sean Wheeler with 1:11 remaining that gave HPU a 96-86 lead. Concordia closed the gap to five down the stretch, but eventually fell 102-96.
Sean Wheeler led Howard Payne with 28 points on 12-of-21 shooting, while grabbing seven rebounds. Cliff McGuire tallied a double-double with 21 points and 14 rebounds on the night and Lee Scott recorded 18 points on 5-of-8 shooting. Matt Zinser and Kendrick Johnson both had 14 points and 9 rebounds each, and Zinser also had 7 steals in the game.
Valentino Maxwell led Concordia with 24 points on 10-of-19 shooting, while George Freeman added 20 points and six rebounds. Joel McDonald recorded 16 points and Michael Moore and Devin Marburger each added 10 points. Sanora Baptiste had a team-high 12 rebounds in the loss.
Newspaper Box Score Howard Payne vs Concordia 01/26/06 7:30 p.m. at Austin, Texas At Austin, Texas HOWARD PAYNE 102, CONCORDIA 96 HOWARD PAYNE (13-3, 12-2 ASC) Sean Wheeler 12-21 4-7 28; Cliff McGuire 7-9 7-15 21; Lee Scott 5-8 6-6 18; Kendrick Johnson 5-11 3-10 14; Matt Zinser 5-10 4-7 14; Josh Weatherred 1-4 0-0 3; Tom Hermann 1-1 0-0 2; Victor Hayes 0-1 2-2 2; Eldrick Spivey 0-1 0-0 0. Totals 36-66 26-47 102. CONCORDIA (3-13, 2-12 ASC) Valentino Maxwell 10-19 4-6 24; George Freeman 8-16 0-0 20; Joel McDonald 6-19 0-1 16; Devin Marburger 3-4 4-6 10; Michael Moore 5-12 0-3 10; Brandon Graves 3-4 2-2 9; Steve Nolan 2-5 0-0 4; Sanora Baptiste 1-6 1-2 3; Keighton Hatten 0-0 0-0 0; Michael Mann 0-1 0-0 0; Jack Montagna 0-0 0-0 0; Bart Taylor 0-0 0-0 0; Luis Urquieta 0-0 0-0 0. Totals 38-86 11-20 96. Howard Payne.................. 44 58 - 102 Concordia..................... 47 49 - 96 3-point goals-Howard Payne 4-17 (Lee Scott 2-5; Josh Weatherred 1-4; Kendrick Johnson 1-2; Victor Hayes 0-1; Eldrick Spivey 0-1; Matt Zinser 0-3; Sean Wheeler 0-1), Concordia 9-31 (Joel McDonald 4-13; George Freeman 4-10; Brandon Graves 1-1; Michael Moore 0-4; Valentino Maxwell 0-3). Fouled out--Howard Payne-None, Concordia-George Freeman; Devin Marburger. Rebounds-Howard Payne 48 (Cliff McGuire 14), Concordia 47 (Sanora Baptiste 12). Assists-Howard Payne 18 (Kendrick Johnson 7), Concordia 19 (Michael Moore 8). Total fouls-Howard Payne 13, Concordia 28. A-310