Clarksville, Ark.-The men's basketball team was defeated by American Southwest Conference West division opponent Howard Payne University in Brownwood, Texas, on Monday night.
The Eagles (3-6, 0-0) were unable to hold onto a two point lead at halftime and dropped a 94-70 decision against the Yellow Jackets (6-4, 0-1). Ozarks held a 38-36 lead going into intermission behind the solid play of Caleb Hilton and Josh Joyner. Hilton’s layup at the 12:26 mark gave Ozarks a 18-12 lead. Ozarks increased its advantage to 24-14 with 10:05 remaining when David Hamilton scored a basket. Howard Payne battled back to tie the game at 33-33 with 2:00 left and even took a 36-35 lead with 37 seconds left to play before Tyler Field’s three-pointer gave Ozarks a 38-36 advantage. Hilton scored 9 points and Joyner contributed 8 points in first half action. Ozarks played well through the first ten minutes of the second half before Howard Payne used an explosive offensive output to put away the Eagles. Holding just a 63-55 lead with 9:26 left in the game, the Yellow Jackets scored 19 points in the span of just five minutes to increase their lead to 82-56. Howard Payne continued to hold at least a twenty point lead for the remainder of the game. Ozarks was led by Josh Joyner’s 16 points. Jacob Sibley scored 15 points while Hilton added 11 points and Hamilton ended with 10 points. Hamilton led the team with 8 rebounds. Ozarks returns to Clarksville for a five-game home stand starting Thursday with a double-header against Schreiner and continuing with a Saturday afternoon twinbill against Texas Lutheran. On Tuesday, January 13, both squads will host Austin College in what will be Ozarks first games that count in the conference standings.
Topics: Athletics