Box Score
PINEVILLE – The Wildcats had their chances to log a much-needed conference win, but too many missed free throws spelled doom for Louisiana College's men in their final game of 2009, a 73-70 loss to Howard Payne.

The Wildcats, who fell to 4-5 overall and 3-3 in American Southwest Conference play, trailed 40-31 at the half.

And though, LC outscored Howard Payne 39-33 in the second, a 50-percent shooting average at the charity stripe was too much to overcome against a Yellow Jackets team that shot 73.3 percent on their free-throw line.

Despite the loss, sophomore guard Jarrod Jackson (Albany, La./Albany High) had one of the best games of his career, scoring a game-high 26 points, pulling down eight rebounds and dishing out three assists.

Junior post Chukwuma Ekeh (Alexandria, La./Holy Savior Menard Central Catholic High) was the only other Wildcat to reach double figures, scoring 12 points to go along with eight rebounds.

Senior forward Daniel Greenhouse (Marksville, La./Marksville High) was good for nine points in the loss.
Howard Payne, which improved to 2-6 overall and 2-4 in ASC play, had four players to reach double figures: Keith Perry (14), John Bryant (14), Daniel Bubel (10) and Henry Valladares (10).

The Wildcats, who like the rest of LC are on winter break, will not return to action until Jan. 4, 2010, a date on which LC will host NAIA St. Thomas at 7 p.m.