Box Score RICHARDSON, TX (01.18.14) - Six players scored in double figures as the UT Dallas men's basketball team nearly doubled-up reigning American Southwest Conference champion Concordia Texas, 95-49, Saturday afternoon.
The Comets (now 12-1, 10-0 ASC) collected their seventh straight victories and 16th consecutive regular-season ASC win, dating back to last year, in the blowout of CTX.
Dmitriy Chernikov led the Comets with a career-high-tying 22 points while
Chris McOmber had 14 points,
Matthew Medell and
Carter Nash each finished with 12 points,
Zach Helmberger scored 11 points and
Nolan Harvey added 10 points in the balanced scoring attack. Nash finished with a "double-double", adding a game-high 11 rebounds.
UTD never trailed as the Comets opened the game 9-for-9 from the field, including a pair of three-pointers, and never looked back en route to their largest margin of victory in more than 13 years. The 46-point victory is largest margin ever against an NCAA Division III opponent and most since a 55-point win over Dallas Christian College (94-39) on Nov. 28, 2000. The UTD record for scoring margin is 67 points, a 124-57 win over DCC on Nov. 29, 1999.
The Comets shot 50 percent or better for the sixth time this season, finishing the afternoon 30-of-58 (51.7%) from the floor, connecting on 6-of-19 three-pointers (31.6%). UTD ended the game 29-of-36 (80.6%) from the foul line. The Comets added dominance on the boards as well, out-rebounding the Tornados, 55-35, and forced 16 CTX turnovers.
After jumping to a quick 20-8 lead without missing a shot in the first five minutes of the game, the Comets never led by less than 10 points for the remainder of the contest. UTD would shoot 54.3 percent (19-of-35) from the field in the opening half, hitting 4-of-11 three-pointers, en route to a 51-23 halftime lead. The visiting Tornados, the top scoring offense in the ASC by more than 10 points per game, shot just 24.2 percent (8-of-33) in the half, hitting 3-of-19 three-pointers.
In the second half, UTD cooled off by shooting just 47.8 percent in the period, but continued to put the pressure on the Tornados defensively. CTX was a mirror-image of itself in the second half, also going 8-for-33 from the field, but went 0-for-7 from long range as the Comets slowly added to their lead.
Chernikov finished 9-for-17, hitting a pair of treys, and was 2-for-4 from the line. He also finished with a career-high in rebounding, adding nine boards. Medell had a solid all-around performance, adding seven rebounds and team-best six assists, both career highs.
Kyle Schleigh had his stretch of double-digit games to a close at 25 games, dating back to last season, finishing the game with just four points, but he had eight rebounds and five assists in just 26 minutes of action, his lowest total since last season.
For CTX (now 11-4, 8-4 ASC), Josh Sanchez had a team-high 11 points while Andre Potts had 10 points, all in the first half. The Tornados finished more than 42 points shy of their ASC-leading season average of 91.6 points per game. Concordia was just 16-of-66 (24.2%) from the field and hit just 3-of-26 three-pointers (11.5%). CTX entered Saturday's game ranked second in the ASC in both field goal percentage (45.9%) and three-point shooting (38.7%).
The Comets take a short break from the home game-filled month of January to visit Ozarks Monday afternoon to wrap up the first half of the ASC schedule. Game time is 3 p.m. in Clarksville. The game is a reschedule of a contest from Dec. 7, which was postponed due to inclement weather.
