RICHARDSON, TX (12.30.21) - The UT Dallas men's basketball team returned to action after nine days off for the holidays and earned a 79-69 non-conference home win over Hendrix Thursday.

The Comets (8-3) led wire-to-wire after rolling off the first nine points of the contest and held on to a double-digit lead for the majority of the opening half to improve to 4-1 in non-conference play this season. UTD will not play again until Thursday, Jan. 6, as the Comets return to ASC play at McMurry in Abilene.

Donovan Souter led four Comets in double figures with 19 points, adding four rebounds and a pair of assists. James Curtis added 18 points and five rebounds while Will Isaac and Hunter Stevens both contributed 13 points. Isaac led UTD with six boards while Stevens dished out a team-best five assists.

The Comets' first double-digit lead of the night came at the 16:35 mark of the opening half when a Luke Kiser three pointer pushed the UTD advantage to 12-2. The Comets shot 44.8 percent (13-of-29) from the field over the first 20 minutes of the contest as cruised to a 43-28 lead at the break. UTD scored nine points off of eight Warrior turnovers before the break and Souter had 15 of his 19 points in the half.

Hendrix (6-4) used a 7-0 run to open the second half to draw back within single digits and made multiple runs throughout the period, but would not trim its deficit to fewer than five points as the UTD kept the Warriors at bay. Curtis would lead the offense in the second half, scoring 12 of his 18 points after the break.