BOX SCORE

Richardson, Texas - Chris McOmber led four Tornado players who scored in double figures after coming off the bench, but the Concordia University Texas men's basketball team fell to Texas-Dallas by an 85-70 score in the quarterfinal round of the American Southwest Conference Tournament on Friday, Feb. 25 at the UTD Activity Center. The Comets advance to meet Mary Hardin-Hardin Baylor in a semifinal game on Saturday, Feb. 26 at 4:30 p.m.

After UT-Dallas scored the first four points in the game, Concordia rallied and took a 6-5 lead on a reverse layup at the 16:30 mark. The Comets, however, responded with a 19-9 run and went ahead by a 24-15 score at the midway point when Curtis Davis hit a running jumper.

The Comets built their lead up to double figures while not allowing the Tornados to hit a field goal for almost seven minutes. Thanks to Greg Chillian's 3-pointer near the top of the key, the hosts had a 44-30 advantage at the break.

UT-Dallas (21-5), which is looking to become the fifth straight host school to win the tournament title this weekend, came out of the locker room strong and ballooned its lead to 20 points on a pair of free throws by Kyle Schleigh. Tayler Jacobs, however, helped the Tornados trim away at the deficit by canning a trey from the right corner and setting up a Donald Lee layup which made it 58-43 with 15:37 left to play.

Following the first media timeout, Concordia continued to slice away at the margin and immediately got a dunk from Johnson. Consecutive 3-pointers by McOmber and Nick Haynes made it 65-54 before the midway point, but the Comets were able to use the long ball as well on the other end of the floor to pull away before a Darius Anderson 3-point play the old-fashioned way produced the final outcome.

“I felt we played hard and were defensively better in the first half than we were compared to the last time we played them, but we couldn't make any shots,” said head coach Stan Bonewitz, whose team only shot 24.4 percent from the field in the first 20 minutes. “I was really proud of the way our guys competed hard for 40 minutes. My hat is off to UT-Dallas. That is a great ballclub, and they will be a tough out.”

McOmber led Concordia with 14 points and five rebounds, while Chris McDermott, Anderson and Johnson netted 10 points apiece off the bench. McDermott also added four assists. UT-Dallas, which registered its 10th consecutive win, was paced by Davis' 21 points. Brandon Greene fell just shy of a double-double with 17 points and eight rebounds, while Chiasson and Schleigh each scored 13 for the Comets.

Concordia (15-11), which was making its fifth straight appearance in the ASC Tournament, is slated to return at least 14 letterwinners and its top five scorers next season in Jacobs, Haynes, Johnson, Anderson and McDermott.