RICHARDSON, TX (02.20.2020) - The UT Dallas men's basketball team wrapped up the American Southwest Conference East Division's top seed in next weekend's ASC Championship Tournament with a thrilling 70-66 home win over Hardin-Simmons Thursday night.

The victory gave the Comets (19-5 overall) at least a share of their second consecutive East Division regular season championship and eighth overall with a 13-2 conference mark heading into Saturday's regular season finale with McMurry. Tipoff is scheduled for 3 pm in the UTD Activity Center. The Comets would win the East outright with a win Saturday as they hold a one-game lead over East Texas Baptist and LeTourneau with one game to play.

Win No. 19 and their ninth at home this season was anything but easy for the Comets, who had to fight off a furious last-minute rally by the Cowboys (10-14, 6-9 ASC), who are still in the post-season picture in the West Division. HSU fought back to tie the score four times and take the lead three times in the final 11 minutes, and trimmed UTD's margin to just 67-66 with 16 seconds left on a Steven Quinn three-pointer that put the outcome in jeopardy.

The Comets then made things interesting by missing a pair of free throws in the final seconds before Michael Forster made the biggest defensive play of the game. With 12 seconds left and another missed free throw, Forster dove for a loose rebound near the Comets bench, knocking the ball off an HSU player out of bounds. UTD kept possession, leading to a pair of Jalen Weber free throws that put the Comets up by three (69-66). Hans Burwitz then grabbed a critical rebound of a Quinn miss with two seconds left, and converted a free throw to make it a two-possession lead with 1.6 seconds remaining.

The game ended up as a milestone for senior Hans Burwitz, who picked up an ASC-leading 15th double-double of the season with 19 points and 12 rebounds. The 19 points brought his UTD career scoring total to 1008 points, making him the 11th Comet to eclipse the 1000-point mark in a career with still at least two games to play.

Junior Kelden Pruitt added 18 points and nine rebounds while Jalen Weber finished the game with 12 points. Michael Forster pitched in six points, but had 10 boards.

The first half was a defensive struggle with both teams hitting big shots in the first 20 minutes. After falling behind early 13-10, UTD went on a 15-2 run and were up 29-25 heading into the dressing room. A Weber jumper gave the Comets their final six-point lead (41-35) with 12:12 remaining, but HSU chipped away with six unanswered points and tied the game at 41-41 with still 10:59 to play. A pair of Keenan Holdman free throws put the Comets in a hole, 48-46, with 8:26 remaining and HSU led once more (55-54) with 5:55 left. But Forster answered with back-to-back three-pointers and Pruitt tossed in a layup to give UTD a seven-point edge (62-55) with 2:54 remaining. A Xavier Ferrell layup with 1:31 gave the Comets their largest lead at 66-57 before the Cowboys began their late-game rally.