The seniors on the Sul Ross State men's basketball team ended the season with a bang.

With four seconds on the clock in the second half, Trey Nelson dished out a pass to Caelyb Kerley who sank the game-winning three-pointer.

Sul Ross was able to triumph over the Howard Payne Yellow Jackets, 81-79, on Saturday night during Senior Day at the Pete P. Gallego Center.

The Lobos were able to end their six-game losing skid and end the season on a high note.

Sul Ross began the game on a 6-0 run after points in the paint by Kerley, Daveone Bass and Trace Edwards.

Nelson later landed a jumper in the paint to start a 7-0 run to increase the Lobo lead to 13 points with 15:13 on the clock.

During the run, Kerley scored five points as he drained a three-pointer.

Howard Payne fought its way back to trail by five with 7:50 remaining until halftime. Two clutch three-pointers by Kerley and Hayden Peterson extended the Lobos' lead to 11 with 5:20 on the clock.

Edwards joined in on the three-point party by knocking down a shot from beyond the arc to make the score 42-30.

With 41 seconds to go, Julian Paredes landed a three-pointer to put Sul Ross ahead by 14.

The Yellow Jackets got a three just before halftime to trail by 11.

Things got interesting in the second half.

Paredes started things off by making another three-pointer before Howard Payne went on a 10-0 run to trail by four with 17:46 on the clock.

The Yellow Jackets kept inching closer and closer back into the contest as they trailed by two with 10:11 to go.

A three-pointer from Howard Payne tied up the game at 66-all with eight minutes to go in the game. The Yellow Jackets used the momentum to take a five-point lead.

The Lobos didn't back down.

Edwards stepped up and drained a clutch three-pointer to put the Lobos behind by two. Christian Nevarez then tied up the game at 73-all with a layup with 4:54 on the clock.

Paredes came through with another three-pointer to put the Lobos back on top, 76-73.

Howard Payne came back to tie the contest at 76-all and then with 32 seconds to go, the Yellow Jackets made one free throw to take a one-point lead.

Luke Pluymen made a layup to give Sul Ross a 78-77 lead with 22 seconds to go.

The Yellow Jackets answered with a layup of their own to retake a one-point lead with nine seconds on the clock.

Kerley then came into the clutch and sent the crowd into a frenzy by making the three-pointer.

Paredes, a graduate student, who had been sidelined with an injury suffered six weeks ago, came back to finish off what has been a stellar career.

He scored a team-high 21 points while he made five 3-pointers. This was the seventh time this season in which Paredes scored 20 or more points in a game.

Paredes finishes his career with 1,032 points.

"It feels great ending the season on a win," Paredes said. "Obviously, collectively as a season it didn't go our way, but I think it's good to finish on a win, build it up for next season for the younger guys.

"We just figured it out in the end and pulled it off. A lot of times throughout the year, these games were tough to finish off. To finally finish one off was good for us."

Kerley added with 14 points, eight assists and three 3-pointers. Nelson chipped in with nine points, nine assists and four rebounds.

Nelson entered the game ranked fourth in the conference with 109 assists while his 44 steals ranked sixth.

Bass, Edwards and Pluymen all tallied eight points. Bass also had six assists and a team-best seven rebounds.

Vince Peralez finished with six points and six rebounds.

The Lobos grabbed 42 rebounds to best the mark of 38 by Howard Payne. Sul Ross also landed 12 three-pointers and dished out 28 assists.

Sul Ross entered the contest with a conference-leading 248 made three-pointers. Pluymen ranked seventh in the conference with his 56 made three-pointers.

"It definitely feels good especially this year with the seniors having to fight through adversity with injuries," Kerley said after the win. "That's something we pride ourselves on is 4-to-1, mental to physical.

"That's something that Julian stands for and him being able to do that just gives us motivation to keep going. We were trying to stay united and stay as one. Once no one got their head down, everybody stayed positive and kept their head up — we pulled it out."

>> RECORDS: Sul Ross (7-18, 4-14); Howard Payne (3-22, 1-7)