Box Score RICHARDSON, TX (02.12.09) - UT Dallas' 55-48 victory over UT-Tyler Thursday night may not have been the most spectacular display of basketball ever played, but the end result was all that mattered as the Comets clinched at least a tie for their first American Southwest Conference East Division championship since 2004.

UTD, which improved to 20-3 overall, now holds a 15-3 conference mark and needs just one win in its final two regular season games to hold off hard-charging LeTourneau and Mississippi College, who both sit at 12-5 with three games remaining. The outright division title would not only give UTD one of the two top seeds in the upcoming ASC Championship Tournament Feb. 27-March 1, but would allow the Comets to play that tournament on its home court.

If the Comets are to make a good showing in that tournament, they'll need to turn in a better performance than either they or the visitin UT-Tyler Patriots did in the regular season home finale Thursday night. At halftime, the two teams had managed just 36 points between them (Tyler led 19-17), had both gone stretchs of over five minutes without scoring, and were a combined 17-of-58 shooting from the field.

The difference in the game was that UTD got at least somewhat better in the second half. While the Patriots (9-13, 9-8) were still shooting at a 37.5 percent clip, the Comets came to life and moved out to a six-point advantage with a 12-4 run to start the second half. UTT got back to within a pair at 15:46, but the Comets responded with a 14-5 run to go out to an 11-point, 39-28 advantage with 10:00 left. Tyler made one last push to cut the lead back to one point (41-40) with 4:49 left, but the Comets scored nine of the next 10 points to move back out to a nine-point (50-41) lead with 2:35 remaining and iced the game at the free throw line.

Senior Temaine Wright, who was honored along with teammate Ernie Lowery before what could have been their final home game, led UTD with 15 points. Brandon Greene had 13, and UTD's other three starters - Jordan Eppink, Jimmy Witten and Lowery - all finished with 8 points apiece and combined for 18 rebounds.

BOXSCORE