Box Score RICHARDSON, TX (02.22.13) - The UT Dallas men's basketball team closed out an extremely competitive opening round of the American Southwest Conference Tournament Friday evening with a 74-60 win over Schreiner.
The Comets (now 20-6) advance to Saturday's semifinal round against Concordia-Texas at 4:30 p.m. CTX, the runner-up from the ASC West Division, advanced to the round of four after a 78-76 win over Mississippi College. In the other semifinal game, ASC West champion Mary Hardin-Baylor will square off with Hardin-Simmons at 2 p.m. UMHB opened the day with a 61-54 win over LeTourneau while HSU outlasted Texas-Tyler, 104-101, in triple overtime.
UTD opened the game on a 15-2 run but stalled late in the first half to allow the Mountaineers to draw within four points at the break. The Comets shot nearly 55 percent in the first 20 minutes, but seven first-half turnovers allowed Schreiner to stay within arm's reach. The Mountaineers had a pair of three-pointers in the final 10 seconds of the half, including a half-court buzzer-beater by Stevan Guerrero, to shrink UTD's lead to 30-26 at intermission.
It took little time for the Comets to regain their double-digit lead in the second half as
Chris McOmber and
Nolan Harvey each drained three-pointers to lift UTD to a 42-30 advantage with 16:03 to play. However, Schreiner answered with an 8-0 run over the next 2:33 to pull within three points, 42-39, on a Ethan Catalina layup with 13:30 remaining.
Kyle Schleigh then scored five points in a span of 40 seconds to spark UTD back to a double-digit cushion, hitting a pair of free throws with 10:36 left to give the Comets a 53-43 lead. UTD maintained a double-digit for a majority of the remainder of the game, leading by as many as 17 points twice before setting for the 14-point win.
Schleigh led all scorers with 27 points and nearly recorded 13th "double-double" of the season, adding a team-best nine rebounds in the only double-digit victory by a team in the opening round of the tournament. He was 9-for-15 from the field, hitting a pair of three-pointers, and was 7-for-9 from the foul line. McOmber and
Dmitriy Chernikov each added 12 points while
Matthew Medell came off the bench for 10 points.
The Comets finished the night shooting 51 percent (25-of-49), hitting 6-of-16 three-pointers (37.5%), and shot 75 percent (18-of-24) from the free-throw line. UTD held a slight rebounding advantage over the Mountaineers, 31-29.
For Schreiner (11-15), A.J. Myres led three players in double figures with a team-best 19 points. Guerrero finished with 16 points while Catalani came off the bench for 10 points. The Mountaineers shot 42.3 percent (22-of-52) from the floor, hitting 5-of-21 three-pointers (23.8%), and shot 68.8 percent (11-of-16) from the foul line.
