RICHARDSON, TX (02.21.19) – The top-seeded UT Dallas men's basketball team spotted McMurry University to an eight-point halftime lead, but erupted with a 62-27 explosion in the second half, propelling the Comets to the semifinals of American Southwest Conference Championship Tournament with a dominating 93-66 over the War Hawks.
 
The Comets (22-4) will now face Concordia Texas in a tournament semifinal match at 7:30 pm Friday in the UTD Activity Center. The Tornados edged Louisiana College, 86-84, in the third quarterfinal game of the day. West Division top seed University of Mary Hardin-Baylor and Hardin-Simmons will meet in the 5:00 semifinal with wins over East Texas Baptist and LeTourneau, respectively.

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After a sluggish first half that saw the Comets trailing McMurry, 39-31, at intermission, UTD stormed out of the locker room with a 21-4 scoring outburst that left the War Hawks trailing 52-43 at the 13:47 mark. The Comets then followed that with a 32-9 run over the next 10 minutes to put the game out of reach with a 30-point margin (87-57) with just 3:48 left. 
 
After going 0-8 from beyond the three-point arch in the first half, the Comets connected on 8-of-15 three-pointers in the second period, led by Curtis Allen's four bombs. Allen was one of five Comets to finish in double figures with Dimitrius Underwood tallying his league-high 14^thdouble-double of the season with 19 points and 10 rebounds. Michael Forster, who sparked the crowd with a thunderous fast-break dunk during one of the runs, had 18 points while Hans Burwitz and Allen each added 12. Jalen Weber, who hit a couple of key second-half threes during the rally, finished with 10 points.
 
In addition to the Comets' second half offensive explosion, UTD's defense stifled McMurry with 8-of-35 (22.9 percent) shooting in the final 20 minutes. The War Hawks were a 54 percent-shooting team in the first period.