Box Score TYLER, TX (01.31.13) - Hopefully the road woes for the UT Dallas men's basketball have gone away after Comets held off rival Texas-Tyler, 63-54, Thursday night to regain the top spot in the American Southwest Conference East Division.
The Comets (now 14-6, 9-5 ASC) had dropped five of their last six road games entering tonight's meeting with ASC East-leading Texas-Tyler, but rallied late to overtake the Patriots for the second time this season.
With the win, UTD forces a tie atop the division standings with the Patriots (now also 14-6, 9-6 ASC), but hold the tie-breaker in a fight for the top seed after a season-sweep of UTT. The two teams are now a full game ahead of both LeTourneau and Mississippi College as the top four teams from the division are still in the hunt for the ASC East crown with five regular season games remaining for most teams.
Trailing the majority of the first half, the Comets snagged their first lead of the night since the opening bucket when
Mike Timmins hit a running layup with 31 seconds left before the break, giving UTD a 27-26 advantage. The Comets added a buzzer-beating jumper by
Matthew Medell for a three-point, 29-26, lead at the break.
UTD then shot 58 percent (11-of-19) from the field and out-rebounded the Patriots, 17-10, in the second half as
Kyle Schleigh guided the Comets to the nine-point win. Schleigh scored 14 of his game-high 24 points after the break and grabbed eight rebounds in the final 20 minutes.
After trading the lead with UT-Tyler four times in the first four minutes of the second half, the Comets took the lead for good with 16:55 to play, 34-33, on a
Dmitriy Chernikov jumper. That field goal sparked an 8-0 run by UTD over a span of 1:12. But, the Comets would not lead by more than seven points until the final 75 seconds.
The Patriots made a run midway through the half, eventually tying the game, 50-50, on a three-pointer by Jordan Cannon, capping an 11-4 run with 7:22 left to play. After a near minute and a half scoreless drought by both teams, Schleigh gave the Comets back the lead, tipping in his own missed shot with just under six minutes remaining, sparking a stretch of six straight points over the next 1:28 to pull away for good. UTD then went 5-for-6 as a team from the foul line over the final three minuters to close out the win. Schleigh twice came up with key defensive rebounds in the final two minutes when the game was still in reach for UTT.
Schleigh nearly notched his 10th "double-double" of the season, adding a game-high nine rebounds to his 24 points. He was 10-for-17 from the field, hitting 3-of-5 three-pointers, as he moved into fifth place on the Comets' all-time scoring list. Now with 1,065 career points, Schleigh slid past Brian Thomas, who scored 1,046 points from 1999-2002. Next on the list for Schleigh to pass is Brandon Greene, who is fourth on the career list with 1,069 points from 2006-11.
Chernikov joined Schleigh in double figures, adding 11 points, doing most of his damage at the free-throw line. Chernikov was just 2-for-6 from the field, but was 7-for-8 from the charity stripe. The Comets finished the night 21-for-41 (51.2%) from the field, hitting 5-of-11 three-pointers (45.5%), and shot 66.7 percent (16-of-24) from the free-throw line. UTD ended the game with a 30-24 rebounding advantage over the Patriots.
For UT-Tyler, Travis Dykman had a team-high 12 points while Darren Houliston added 11 points. The Patriots shot just 40.8% (20-of-49) from the field, hitting just 4-of-20 three-pointers (20%), and shot 71.4 percent (10-of-14) from the free-throw line.
Next up for the Comets is the final road game of the regular season and a match-up with East Texas Baptist. UTD will look to win a second straight road game for the second time this season with a 3 p.m. contest in Marshall.
