RICHARDSON, TX (12.22.14) - The UT Dallas men's basketball team watched its four-game winning streak come to an end Monday afternoon with a 63-57 home loss to Howard Payne in American Southwest Conference play.

The Comets (now 7-3, 3-3 ASC) led HPU on just four occasions in the first half, all by no more than two points, as UTD struggled from the field before the break. The Comets hit just 9-of-25 shots (36%) in the opening half as HPU cruised to a 36-24 halftime advantage. Trailing by as many as 16 points late in the game, UTD made a final charge to draw within four points with just under a minute to play. However, the Comets went 0-for-3 from the field while HPU went 3-for-4 from the foul line to end the game.

Kyle Coulter led all scorers with 18 points and sparked the Comets with a game-best eight rebounds. Coulter was 7-for-10 from the field, hitting 4-of-5 three-pointers. Nolan Harvey joined Coulter in double figures, finishing with 10 points. Matthew Medell recorded a solid all-around outing with five points, six rebounds and a career-best eight assists.

Coulter scored the first basket of the afternoon to give UTD an early 2-0 lead, but little did the Comets realized that would be their largest lead of the night. After a short flurry by the Jackets, UTD regained a slim lead, 8-7, on a Harvey three-pointers with 15:05 left and later grabbed one points leads at 17-16 and 19-18, the latest coming with 9:31 left in the opening half. HPU responded to the Comets' final lead with a 7-0 run to secure a 25-19 advantage after a layup by Ty Davis and rolled into halftime on a 18-5 run over the final nine minutes of the half.

The Comets slowed pecked away at the HPU lead early in the second half, however could not get any closer than seven points, 44-30 with 16:57 remaining, before the Jackets again pulled away. With 8:54 left, a Davis three-pointer gave HPU back a 16-point lead, 56-40.

Trailing 61-45 with just over five minutes left, the Comets looked to take command of the game. Over the next four minutes, UTD outscored the Jackets, 12-0, getting basketball from four different players, capped by Coulter's final three-pointer of the game with 55 seconds left.

As a team, the Comets improved from the field in the second half (13-of-32, 40.6%), but still finished the game shooting just 38.6 percent (22-of-57), their second lowest percentage of the season. UTD was 7-for-20 from three-point range (35%), and hit 6-of-8 free-throws (75%). The Comets held a slight rebounding advantage, 35-33.

The Comets will take off nearly two weeks for the holidays before returning to action on Saturday, Jan. 3, when they host Trinity in a non-conference game. Tip-off is 3 p.m. at the UTD Activity Center.