LONGVIEW, TX (02.23.17) - Arguably the hottest team in the league heading to the postseason, the UT Dallas men's basketball team is headed back to the semifinal round of the American Southwest Conference after a 85-62 first-round win over Mary Hardin-Baylor Thursday afternoon.

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The Comets (12-14) will be making their first appearance in the ASC semis in three seasons after making back-to-back early exits in their last two postseason trips. UTD, the No. 2 seed out of the ASC's East Division, will next play at 5 p.m. Friday in the semifinals against West Division top-seeded Hardin-Simmons.

En route to the program's largest postseason win since 2010, UTD junior point guard Caleb Banks became the Comets' career assists leader. Banks had nine assists in Thursday's win and now has 418 assists, passing former Comet Travis Carruthers (411, 2005-08) for the record. Banks added 11 points and three rebounds against the Cru.

Comet freshman Dimitrius Underwood finished the lop-sided victory with a game-high 22 points on 8-of-13 shooting and added a season-best 14 rebounds for his fourth 'double-double' of the season. Senior Kyle Coulter added 14 points, all in the first half, to round out the Comets in double figures.

UTD led the game wire-to-wire as the Comets scored the opening seven points of the game and never looked back. The Comets took a double-digit lead, 16-6, with 12:41 left in the opening half and would take a 38-24 advantage into the locker room.

It did not take long for the Comets to secure their first 20-point lead of the afternoon as Jon Hatcher hit a pair of free throws with 16:45 remaining in the contest to lift UTD to a 51-30 cushion. UTD led by as many as 28 points in the second half before settling for the 23-point win. The Comets' 23-point margin of victory is the largest in the postseason since an 85-52 victory over East Texas Baptist in the semifinals of the 2010 ASC Tournament.

The Comets finished the game shooting 44.4 percent (28-of-63) from the field, connecting on 7-of-27 three-pointers (25.9%), and shot 71 percent (22-of-31) from the free-throw line. UTD out-rebounded the Cru, 40-34.

More impressively, UTD shut down one of the hottest shooting teams in the ASC, holding UMHB (15-11) to just .271 shooting from the field and allowing just three 3-point shots to a team that averaged over eight per game.