RICHARDSON, TX (02.21.15) - The UT Dallas men's basketball team was handed its third straight loss to close out the regular season Saturday afternoon as the Comets fell to Concordia Texas, 96-84, in American Southwest Conference play.

The Comets (now 16-9, 11-9 ASC) will serve as the No. 7 seed in next week's ASC Tournament and will open play at 2:30 p.m. Thursday against Hardin-Simmons. This year's event will be hosted by East Texas Baptist in Marshall after ETBU and HSU shared the league's regular-season title.

UTD shot a season-high 58.5 percent (24-of-41) from the field, but could not overcome its struggles at the free-throw line against the Tornados. Thanks to 35 Concordia fouls, the Comets went to the line 48 times, one shy of the program record, but only walked away with 34 makes for 70.8 percent. The Comets also hit a season-low three-pointers, making just 2-of-12 shots (16.7%) from long distance.

The Comets grabbed the lead from CTX just twice in the opening half, both occasions by just one point. UTD's final lead of the game came with 7:45 left before intermission when Caleb Banks hit a running lay up to give the Comets a 21-20 advantage. After giving up the lead, UTD battled back to a tie at 23-23 and 25-25 before the Tornados took the lead for good with 5:45 left when Donovan Ford hit the third of his seven three-pointers to give CTX advantage, 28-25. The Tornados stretch their first-half lead to as many as nine points twice before setting for a 45-38 lead at the break.

Concordia (now 16-9, 12-8 ASC) secured its first double-digit lead at 52-42 with 16:02 remaining after an Andre Potts lay up and widened its margin to as many 16 points with just under eight minutes to play when Rashad Coleman hit two free throws to give the Tornados a 77-61 advantage.

UTD made one final push, using a a 9-0 run after Coleman's free throws and eventually cutting the deficit to six points, 78-72, with 4:56 left on a Jon Hatcher lay up. But, the Tornados responded with a 12-2 run of the own to again take a 16-point lead, 90-74, with 2:37 left.

Banks led the Comets with a season-high 23 points while Rafael Farley had 19 points and Hatcher came off the bench for a season-best 18 points. Farley led UTD with eight rebounds while Banks added seven assists.