ABILENE, Texas — Matt Addison scored 33 points and had eight assists to lead Hardin-Simmons past Texas-Tyler, 88-81, in the American Southwest Conference opener for both teams on Saturday evening at the Mabee Complex.

Addison hit 12-of-21 points and also had five steals. In the second half, it was George Nelson doing the majority of the damage for the Cowboys. Nelson had 13 of his 17 points in the second half as HSU held off the hot-shooting Patriots.

Texas-Tyler shot 54.2 percent and outrebounded the Cowboys 37-30, but HSU forced 23 turnovers by the Patriots and committed only 10.

The game was back and forth early on and HSU used a 10-2 run to take its biggest lead of the first half at 29-21 with 4:12 to play, but the Patriots answered with a 9-0 run to take a 32-31 lead, which was the last time the Patriots led at the 1:51 mark. HSU closed the first half on a 6-2 spurt and led 37-34 at halftime.

HSU led 53-51 with 11:46 to play and a 7-0 run over a little over a minute gave the Cowboys their biggest lead of the game at 63-54. The Patriots cut it to as few as three on three different occasions. It was 79-75 with 2:43 to play when Terrance Booker nailed a 3-pointer to give the Cowboys an 82-75 lead and HSU held on from that point.

Booker and Andy Spears each had nine points for the Cowboys and Derrick Jefferson had seven points and nine rebounds.

The Patriots had five players in double figures with Lance Murphy leading the way with 17 points and Darren Houliston had 16 points and 11 rebounds.

HSU is now 2-0 on the year and 1-0 in league play and will host LeTourneau on Monday at 7:30. The Patriots are 1-2 overall and 0-1 in league play.

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