Box Score LONGVIEW, TX (02.21.09) - They say that “defense and character wins championships,” and the UT Dallas men's basketball team showed both in their regular season finale Saturday afternoon, winning their first-ever outright American Southwest Conference East Division title with a 66-59 road win at LeTourneau.

With the victory, the Comets (21-4, 16-4) also earned the right to host the ASC Men's Basketball Championship Tournament in the UTD Activity Center this Friday-Sunday, Feb. 27-March 1. The tournament bracket will be released Sunday.

UTD entered the LETU game with its back against the wall, leading both LeTourneau and Mississippi College by just one game in the East Division standings after faltering on the road Thursday at East Texas Baptist. In addition, the Comets were facing a LETU team that had led most of the way in their first meeting back on Jan. 17 before UTD pulled off a dramatic, last-minute 60-59 win.

As it turned out, UTD would have hosted the tournament anyway via tiebreakers after MC lost its final game to UT-Tyler, 84-73; but the Comets wanted to both earn the title outright and re-instill confidence going into the post-season. They did both Saturday afternoon, using airtight defense and a series of scoring runs to put the "must-win" finale in the books.

UTD struggled offensively in a tight first half that saw five ties and seven lead changes, but stayed close by nailing seven 3-pointers. The LETU Yellowjackets (16-9, 14-6) were up by as much as five early, but gave up an 11-0 Comet run late in the half to trail 32-30 at intermission.

UTD then took control by scoring the first seven points of the second period to move out to a 39-39 lead. LETU whittled the lead back to one (42-41) with 10:53 remaining and things stayed tight until the final four minutes. The Comets turned a 52-50 lead with 4:17 remaining into an insurmountable 62-50 advantage with :33 remaining by reeling off 10 unanswered points. The Yellowjackets were held without a basket from the floor for most of the final four minutes of the game.

After a poor defensive night against ETBU Thursday, UTD was back to its league-leading defensive effort Saturday, holding the Yellowjackets to 42 percent shooting, including a 9-for-26 effort in the second half. UTD also forced 17 turnovers and had 8 steals, leading to 28 points.

In a team effort, the Comets had four players score in double figures, paced by Brandon Greene's 12 points.

BOXSCORE