RICHARDSON, TX (01.31.19) - The UT Dallas men's basketball team erased a late seven-point deficit to rally for an 83-76 home win over Louisiana College Thursday night in a battle of the top two teams from the American Southwest Conference's East Division.

With the win, the Comets improved to 16-4 overall and now sit alone atop the ASC East standings with a 9-3 mark with just four league games left in the regular season. The two teams entered Thursday's contest with identical overall and conference records after the Wildcats snapped UTD's eight-game winning streak this past Saturday in Pineville, La.

UTD continues to control its own destiny to win the divisional crown for the first time in 2013 and, if so, would then host the ASC Tournament next month. The Comets will look to follow up with another divisional home win Saturday afternoon when they host Belhaven. Tip-off is 3 p.m. at the UTD Activity Center.

After a back-and-forth opening half which ended with a UTD two-point lead, the visiting Wildcats started to pull away early in the second period. With just under 16 minutes on the clock, LC would grab its largest lead up to that point when Kae'ron Baker lifted the Wildcats to a 46-40 advantage with a three-pointer. Baker finished the night 6-for-8 from beyond the arc, hitting five treys in the second half.

The Wildcats extended their lead to as many as nine points, 59-50, by the midway point of the half before UTD would get back into the game. With 7:13 on the clock, Jalen Weber drew the Comets back within two points with a three-pointers and Curtis Allen then gave UTD its first lead since the start of the second half with a trey of his own at the 6:24 mark, lifting the Comets to a 64-63 advantage. 

LC (now 15-5, 8-4 ASC) clawed back one more time and regained the lead, 71-70, with 3:30 left on another Baker three-pointers, but the Comets answered quickly with a pair of free throws by Dimitrius Underwood took take back the lead for god. UTD went 9-for-10 from the charity stripe over the final 3:01 to keep the Wildcats at bay.

Underwood paced the Comets with 20 points along with a game-high 14 points for his ASC-leading 11th 'double-double' of the season. Underwood led four UTD players in double figures as Hans Burwitz added 19 points, Weber had 15 points and Kelden Pruitt came off the bench for 12 points. 

The Comets closed the night shooting 43.1 percent (25-of-58) as a team, making just 4-of-20 three-pointers (20%), and shot 82.9 percent the line. UTD made a season-high 29 free throws (35 attempts).