BOX SCORE

Brownwood, Texas – Josh Johnson set two career highs by exploding for 28 points and 14 boards in leading the Concordia University Texas baseball team to a 96-92 road victory over Howard Payne on Saturday, Feb. 4 at the Brownwood Coliseum. The Tornados ended the weekend alone in third place in the American Southwest Conference West Division standings by winning for the fifth straight time.

Concordia started the game on a 20-6 run to set the tone early. Johnson started the scoring with a layup on the game's first possession and ended the stretch with a thunderous dunk before the first media timeout. Howard Payne rallied and made it a one-possession game on a Brandon Gould 3-pointer and tied it at 26 with a Michael Thompson layup at the 6:26 mark. But the Tornados never surrendered the lead in the frame and found themselves up 45-42 at the break thanks to a Larry Durand layup in the waning seconds.

Even though Concordia opened up a six-point lead on a quick Haynes trey, the teams played a tightly contested second half which featured four ties and eight lead changes. Two free throws by Brandon Irwin gave the Yellow Jackets their first advantage at 53-52 with 17:18 to play.

Howard Payne pushed its lead to five points on two occasions before the midway point of the frame, but a Johnson layup off a missed shot by Darius Anderson tied the game up for the sixth time. Clinging to a 75-74 advantage with under eight minutes on the clock, the Tornados started to pull away by not allowing the Yellow Jackets to make a field goal for more than four minutes. Johnson went coast-to-coast and made it 89-78 with 4:08 left, which gave the visitors enough of a cushion to hold on for the win.

In addition to setting personal bests for points and rebounds, Johnson also matched a career high by blocking five shots to pace Concordia. Anderson finished with 17 points off the bench.

Irwin led three Howard Payne (8-13, ASC 6-11) players in double figures by netting 34 points to go along with nine rebounds. Gould and Thompson contributed 19 and 12 points, respectively, while Gould also added four assists.

Concordia (13-8, ASC 11-6) will host McMurry on Thursday, Feb. 9 at 7:30 p.m.