AUSTIN (01.15.15) - The UT Dallas men's basketball team let a close game get away from it late, falling to Concordia Texas, 83-76, Thursday night in American Southwest Conference play.
 
The Comets (10-4, 5-4 ASC) had pulled to within two points (76-74) on a Matthew Medell fast break layup with 1:36 left, but Concordia (9-5, 5-4 ASC) answered quickly with what turned into the final five points of the game to pull away in the final minute. The loss snapped a three-game UTD win streak and dropped the both teams into a tie in the middle of the ASC pack.

 

After Medell got his layup, Jared Galvan raced quickly to the other end for an answer and was fouled on the play for a three-point play. Down four, the Comets tried a long-range three-pointer from Rafael Farley on their next posession and the Tornados grabbed the rebound and turned it into an Andre Potts jumper with little time left. UTD never scored again in the final 1:36.

Farley kept his season-long double-figure scoring streak in tact with a team-high 23 points, and made it six "double-doubles" on the year with 10 rebounds. Matthew Medell added 14 points and five boards for the Comets while Kyle Coulter, who played at Concordia last season, scored 11.

The Comets took a lead for the last time (68-65) at the 6:02 mark when Farley canned a long-distance three-pointer from well beyond the arc. But Concordia tied up the score after a couple of free throws and then ran off four quick points after a timeout and UTD turnover to move back to a five-point edge (73-68) at the 4:30 mark. The Comets kept the close at the free-throw line, but didn't score again from the floor for nearly five minutes.

Both teams had ample opportunity to score at the foul stripe. Officials whistled a combined 56 fouls and both teams shot over 30 free throws. UTD finished at 22-of-31 from the line while CTX was 25-of-35.

The fast-paced Concordia offense set the tempo in the first half, scoring the first four points of the game and building a 16-9 lead in the first five minutes. UTD finally cut the lead down to 21-20 at 12:13 on a Zach Helmberger layup, and then tied the score at 26-26 on two Farley free throws at the 10:01 mark. But the Tornados went on another run, blanking the Comets 10-0 over a three-minute period and led 36-26 at 7:23. A Farley layup cut the margin to 43-40 with 3:16 left in the half, but CTX finished off the period on a 9-3 run to lead 52-43 at the break.

The Tornados again stretched out their lead to open the second half, building a 56-45 advantage at 17:42. But UTD answered with a run of its own, scoring eight unanswered points to come withing three (56-53) on a Coulter layup. A Medell layup and foul shot got the Comets to within 60-58 and then Reagan Keough tipped in an offensive rebound and got a foul shot as well to give UTD a 61-60 lead with 8:23 remaining.

The Comets finished the game hitting 25-of-46 from the field for 54.3 percent shooting while CTX was 28-of-63. The two teams were a combined 7-for-33 in three-point accuracy. CTX narrowly outrebounded the Comets , 36-31.

One number that did haunt UTD, however, was 21 turnovers which the Tornados converted into 29 points.

The Comets will have little time to lick their wounds as they travel to Belton for a Saturday afternoon meeting with ASC power University of Mary Hardin-Baylor, which knocked off conference leader Hardin-Simmons 90-81 Thursday night.