Box Score LONGVIEW, TX (02.18.16) - The UT Dallas men's basketball team will have to wait another day for a chance to wrap up the No. 2 seed in the American Southwest Conference East Division after an 87-76 defeat Thursday night at LeTourneau.

The Comets (now 16-8, 8-6 ASC) will wrap up the regular season Saturday afternoon at rival Texas-Tyler, where UTD will need a win to secure the East Division's No. 2 seed in next week's ASC Championship Tournament. Game time for the regular season finale is 3 p.m. in Tyler.

A pair of LETU (11-13, 7-7 ASC) scoring runs in the second half allowed the YellowJackets to pull away from a game that had been tight until that point. The two teams traded the lead three times and were tied four times in the first half. But LETU went on a 12-1 run to open the second period and then - after the Comets had cut the lead down to 66-60 with a pair of Caleb Banks free throws at the 8:34 mark - used a 14-5 stretch with 5:00 left to turn a close game into a 79-65 advantage as the clock began to wind down. UTD was able to cut the lead below double figures just twice in the final minute as LETU held on for the win.

UTD trailed 13-7 early, but went on a 17-0 run of their own behind a pair of Ben Smith three-pointers to go ahead, 17-13 at 13:19 of the first half. They held the lead until LETU tied the score at 20-20 three minutes later. With the Comets down 34-26 with 3:14 until the break, UTD ran off an 11-3 run to trail just 35-37 at halftime.

But the Comets couldn't keep the momentum going, falling behind 49-36 in the first 3:12 of the second period before Banks scored six in an 8-0 run to pull UTD back to within four (44-49) two minutes later. 

UTD shot a respectable 49 percent from the field (24-49), but allowed LETU to hit 34-of-57 shots (54 percent). The Comets did enjoy an advantage at the line with 32 opportunities, but hit just 23. The YellowJackets were 17-of-18 at the stripe. While the Comets won the rebounding battle, 31-25, LETU got 36 points off its bench players.

Caleb Banks led all scorers in the loss with a season-high 20 points while Jon Hatcher finished with 16 points and Ben Smith added 12 points. Smith pulled down a game-high nine rebounds.