RICHARDSON, TX (12.04.19) - In the first American Southwest Conference men's basketball game of the 2019-20 season, the UT Dallas men's basketball team earned a 69-57 home win over Ozarks Wednesday night.

The Comets improved to 4-2 on the young season with the win over the visiting Eagles and will now take a two-week hiatus before returning to action, Wednesday, Dec. 18, on the road at Millsaps.

UTD got off to a blazing 11-0 start in the contest only to watch that early lead quickly dwindle to nothing just past the midway point of the opening half. Ozarks' Sean Cohns drained a jumper at the 9:28 mark of the first period to knot the game, 18-18, and the Eagles had an opportunity to take the lead on their next two possessions, but a missed jumper and a pair of errant free throw attempts kept the game tied until UTD's Hans Burwitz gave the Comets the lead for good, 20-18, with two free shots at the 8:32 mark. The Comets slowly pulled away to close the half and secured a 32-25 lead at the intermission. 

The Comets would regain a double-digit lead with 16:23 remaining in the contest when Jalen Weber scored to push UTD's advantage to 40-30, but the Eagles soon countered with an 8-0 run to claw back with a single possession just more than two minutes later. UTD answered, however, with a 9-0 run of its own, capped by a Simeon Soname free throw, to push its lead to 11 points, 49-38, with 9:12 on the clock. Ozarks made one final push three minutes later, drawing with four points twice, but the Comets would close the night by outscoring the Eagles, 16-8, over the final five minutes.

Kelden Pruitt finished with a game-high 21 points and added 10 rebounds for his second-straight 'double-double', while Weber added 15 points and a game-best eight assists. Hans Burwirtz scored nine points and led the Comets with 11 rebounds. Soname and Xavier Ferrell each contributed nine points as well.

The Comets shot 46.3 percent (25-of-54) for the night, hitting just 3-of-14 three-pointers (21.4%), and were just 16-of-27 (59.3%) from the free-throw line. UTD held a slim 39-38 advantage in rebounding and forced 16 Eagle turnovers.