Box Score RICHARDSON, TX (02.09.13) - Riding a 32-point performance by junior
Kyle Schleigh, the UT Dallas men's basketball secured a trip to the American Southwest Conference Tournament for the 10th straight season after an 83-72 home win over Louisiana College.
The Comets (now 17-6, 12-5 ASC) move back into a tie for first place with rival Texas-Tyler after Saturday's victory, but hold the tie-breaker over the Patriots due to a season sweep. UTD will host the ASC Tournament, Feb. 22-24, with two more wins or finishing with the same ASC record as UTT. Louisiana College (7-11, 7-9 ASC) is still in a battle for one of the final four East Division playoff berths, but currently trails both LeTourneau (9-8) and Mississippi College (8-8) for that final spot.
In Saturday's win, Schleigh came within three points of tying the Comets' single-season scoring record of 490 points. In the victory, the junior forward hit 9-for-16 shots from the field, drained 2-of-5 three-point attempts and added a 12-for-14 peformance from the free throw line, finishing two points shy of his career single game record. With at least three games left, Schleigh now has 487 points on the season, three shy of the school record of 490 set by Martin Salinas (2006-07) and matched by
Chris Barnes (2010-11).
The Comets shot lights-out in the Saturday win, hitting 53.8 percent (28-of-52) from the field and nailed seven three-point shots. UTD scored 20 points from the free-throw line (on 31 attempts) thanks to 28 personal fouls called against the Wildcats, who had three players foul out. LC missed only 2-of-14 free throws on their end, but didn't have quite the same number of opportunities as UTD committed just 17 fouls.
In addition to Schleigh,
Nolan Harvey was the only other Comet player to finish in double figures. The sophomore point guard scored 14 points, hitting a pair of three-point shots. Schleigh also led the Comets in rebounding, pulling down eight boards as the two teams finished in a near dead heat at 32-31 Louisiana College.
UTD never trailed against the Wildcats, who handed the Comets a 67-65 loss on their home court last month. UTD opened the game on a 12-6 run, then got the lead to double digits (24-12) on a three-point shot by
Ryan Smith and a Schleigh layup-and-foul-shot at 6:51. The Wildcats whittled the lead down to as little as seven points (24-17) with five unanswered free throws, but Harvey turned the tide back in UTD's favor with a three-point that made the score 27-17 with 5:20 to go in the half. A
Matthew Medell layup at :47 gave the Comets their largest first-half lead (40-24), but LC finished the half with four straight points to trail by just 12 (40-28) at the break.
Starting the second half hot moved UTD out to a quick 18-point lead (53-35 at 14:37). and the Comets expanded on that to lead by 20 (67-47) when
Dmitriy Chernikov nailed a three-pointer at 8:06. A quick run by the Wildcats cut the lead down to nine points (68-59) with 5:22 still to play, but
Jacob VanNattan got a tip-in underneath to put the lead back into double digits and UTD stretched the lead back out to 14 (80-66) on a Schleigh dunk following a fast break with just over a minute to play.
The Comets will finish up the regular season with conference home games against the University of the Ozarks Monday, and LeTourneau on Saturday. A pair of wins (or a better record than UT Tyler) would put the ASC Men's Basketball Championship Tournament on the UTD home court Feb. 22-24. UTD can finish no worse than second in the East Division.
