Box Score TACOMA, WA (11.17.12) - UTD junior center
Carter Nash again led the way with his second 20-plus point night in a row Saturday as the UTD men's basketball team got the season off to a 2-0 start at the Doug McArthur Classic with a 75-58 win over tournament host, University of Puget Sound.
Nash, the junior from Houston who scored 27 points in the opening win over Pacific Lutheran Friday, came back Saturday to put up a 'double-double' ' with 23 points and a career-high 14 rebounds.
The win completed a two-game sweep for the Comets (2-0), who opened their season at the Tacoma, Washington tournament against two highly-regarded teams from the Pacific Northwest. The Comets defeated Pacific Lutheran College, 66-58, on Friday.
UTD followed almost the same exact script as it did in the opener Friday - rallying for a big second half after starting slow and trailing at intermission. Down 36-31 after a sluggish start (38.5 percent first-haf shooting), the Comets doubled up UPS in the second period, outscoring the Loggers 44-22.
The Comets executed the rally with a determined effort on offense, and a lock-down defense after the break. UTD continually took the ball to the hole, drawing a number of fouls on scoring plays. The Comets scored 15 points on 18 free-throw attempts in the second half. At the other end of the floor, the Comets allowed the Loggers to connect on just 7-of-26 (26.9 percent) from the floor in the final 20 minutes.
UTD again found itself trailing at the break. After jumping out to a 16-7 lead in the first seven minutes, UTD gave up a 22-13 run that allowed the Loggers to tie the score at 29-29 with 2:02 remaining in the first half. The Loggers, a 20-win team last year that also won it's opener Friday, continued the run and were up 36-31 at intermission.
The Comets, who had given up a 52-percent shooting performance by UPS in the first half while making just 10-of-26 shots themselves, answered methodically after the break.
Kyle Schleigh got the Comets to within one (40-39) at 16:58, then back-to-back layups by
Mitchell Anderson and
Chris McOmber put the Comets ahead for the first time (47-46) with 12:50 left.
From there, the Comets took off. UTD stretched its lead out to six points twice while the Loggers struggled to find their scoring range. UPS went over six minutes without a field goal and the Comets were up, 54-48, on a Nash layup with 10:25 left.
UPS pulled back to within three a minute later, but Nash answered quickly, socring on a layup and getting the extra point with a foul shot to start UTD on the way. The Loggers were within two again (57-55) with seven minutes left, but the Comets stretched the lead out with a 10-0 run that concuded with
Dmitriy Chernikov free throws with 3:36 left. When the Loggers threatened again,
Nolan Harvey nailed his second three-pointer of the game at 2:14 to make it a 14-point lead for UTD. Free throws down the stretch put the game at its final 17-point margin.
In addition to Nash, Harvey finished in double figures with 11 points while Schleigh was held to 10. Chernikov and Anderson combined for 17 points off the bench. UTD finished the game shooting 42.6 percent, had six three-pointers and was 22-of-29 at the free-throw line. The Comets again out-rebounded their opponent, 39-27.
Nash and Schleigh were both tabbed All-Tournament with Nash picking up MVP honors.
UTD is off until next Saturday when they open American Southwest Conference play at the University of the Ozarks.
