Box Score RICHARDSON, TX (02.07.13) - Sohomore point guard
Nolan Harvey hit five three-pointers and finished with a career-high 24 points as the Comets battled for a 75-62 home win over Mississippi College Thursday night to stay in the hunt to win the American Southwest Conference East Division.
The Comets (now 16-6, 11-5 ASC) still sit in second place in the ASC East, one-half game begin Texas-Tyler, which narrowly beat LeTourneau 62-59 Thursday to improve to 12-5 in conference. UTD has three remaining regular season games while the Patriots have just two left. The Comets hold the tie-breaker over UTT if the two teams finish with identical conference records. The top team in the East Division will host the 2013 ASC Men's Basketball Champioship Tournament.
In order to keep pace with the Patriots, the Comets built up a double-digit lead midway through the first half against Mississippi College, and held off multiple challenges throughout from the athletic Choctaws (12-9, 8-7 ASC), who still have a half-game lead for third place in the division.
In addition to Harvey, the rest of the Comets were on fire offensively throughout, hitting 25-of-48 shots (52.1 percent) from the field. The Comets were 9-of-14 from beyond the arch with Harvey hitting five and
Chris McOmber (13 points, 7 rebounds) adding three.
Kyle Schleigh came alive in the second half with 13 points and six rebounds after halftime to finish with his 11th double-double on the season (17 points, 10 rebounds).
Dmitriy Chernikov also finished in double figures with 10 points and five rebounds.
UTD held the Choctaws to just 38.6 percent shooting (38.6 percent) and out-rebounded the Choctaws, 37-25.
The two teams traded punches throughout the first seven minutes. The Choctaws took the first lead and were up 9-3 at 15:14, but UTD tied the game at 9-9 at 15:14 on back-to-back threes from McOmber and Harvey. When Chernikov got loose for a basket underneath at 13:32, UTD took an 11-10 lead and never trailed again.
The Comets followed that basket with a layup and back-to-back threes from McOmber, as well as layups from
Matthew Medell and Harvey, to complete a 16-4 run over a seven-minute span. With 6:47 to go in the first period, UTD had opened up a double-digit, 25-14 lead. The Choctaws chipped away, getting as close as seven points once, but UTD had the lead back to double digits (36-26) at intermission.
Mississippi College cut the Comet lead down to eight three times to open the second period, but UTD moved the lead back to 16 (54-38) on a layup and foul shot from Schleigh at 13:24. A 12-4 mini-run from MC got the lead back down to eight two more times, the last coming at 8:10 (58-50). But another three-pointer from Harvey rejuvenated the Comets and they went on a 16-7 run to stretch the lead out to its largest margin (74-57) with 2:20 left.
The Comets face another tough home test Saturday when Louisiana College visits the UTD campus at 3 pm. LC, which is still fighting for one of the final post-season spots, upset the Comets, 67-65 last month in Pineville.
