RICHARDSON, TX (02.19.15) - Mary Hardin-Baylor's Daniel Mills hit two free throws with 0.2 seconds on the clock as the visiting Cru erased a 20-point second half deficit to edge the UT Dallas men's basketball team, 76-75, Thursday night in American Southwest Conference play.

The Comets (now 16-8, 11-8 ASC) led UMHB, 41-29, at the break and widened their margin to as many as 20 points after a 10-2 run to open the second half. The Cru made a small surge to draw within 12 points before UTD propelled back to an 18-point advantage with just under seven minutes left to play. However, UMHB (now 17-7, 14-5 ASC) would end the game on a 25-6 run with the final points coming on two Mills' free throws after the referees went to the replay monitor to confirm a foul occurred before time expired.

UTD opened the game strong by grabbing its first double-digit lead at the 13:11 mark of the first half when a Caleb Banks jumper lifted the Comets to a 19-9 advantage. The Comets extended its lead to as many as 18 points in the half as they connected on 7-of-13 three-pointers as a squad in the opening 20 minutes.

The Comets momentum carried over into the second half as UTD secured its largest lead of the game with 14:56 remaining as Zach Helmberger hit a lay up to lift the Comets to a seemingly insurmountable 51-31 lead. However, Mills would give the Cru a spark off the bench as he scored 16 of his team-high 24 points in the second half, including nine of UMHB's final 11 points.

With 6:53 remaining, the Comets still maintained an 18-point lead, 69-51, after a Matthew Medell lay up, but UTD would finish the game 2-for-6 from the field down the stretch and went 1-for-4 from the free-throw line in the final 3:20 of the contest.

Rafael Farley led all scorers on the night with 27 points, hitting 10-of-20 shots from the field and 5-of-9 shots from three-point range. Medell finished with a season-high 20 points while Banks recorded his second "double-double" of the season with 11 points and 11 assists. Ryan Horton led the Comets with nine rebounds.

The Comets ended the game shooting 47.5 percent (28-of-59) from the field, hitting 12-of-24 three-pointers (50%), and shot just 50 percent (7-of-14) from the foul line. UTD held a slim rebounding advantage over the Cru, 39-37.

Mills was 7-of-15 from the field off the bench for UMHB and was a perfect 8-for-8 from free-throw line as he led four Cru players in double figures. UMHB shot 44.6 percent (29-of-65) from the floor, making 5-of-13 three-pointers (38.5%) and were 13-of-20 (65%) from the foul line.

The win left UMHB in a four-way tie for the ASC lead with East Texas Baptist, Hardin-Simmons and Louisiana College at 14-5 going into the final weekend of conference play. The Comets, who will meet one of those four teams in the opening round of next weekend's ASC Championship Tournament, will determine whether they will be the 6th or 7th seed Saturday afternoon when they host Concordia Texas for Senior Day at 3 pm in the UTD Activitty Center. The two teams currently have identical 11-8 conference marks.