RICHARDSON, TX (02.23.19) - The UT Dallas men's basketball are American Southwest Conference champions for the first time since 2014 and will be making the program's sixth all-time trip to the NCAA Division III National Tournament after an 88-74 win over Hardin-Simmons Saturday in the league's title game in the UTD Activity Center.

ASC TOURNAMENT CENTRAL

The Comets (24-4) led wire-to-wire to earn their fourth league crown and will learn their next opponent on the NCAA D-III Selection Show, scheduled for 11:30 a.m. (Central) on Monday, Feb. 25, at www.ncaa.com. UTD also won the ASC championship 2005, 2009 and 2014, and was an at-large selection into the NCAA D-III National Tournament in 2010 and 2011.

Junior guard Dimitrius Underwood was named the event's Most Valuable Player after recording a 'double-double' in all three games over the weekend. Underwood averaged 21.3 points and 11.7 rebounds during the Comets' championship run. He was joined on the All-Tournament Team by teammates Michael Forster and Jalen Weber.

The Comets did not go to the free-throw throughout the entire first half, but would hit 22-of-24 shots after the break to hold off HSU. UTD went 12-for-12 from the line over the 1:45 after Underwood pushed the Comets' lead to 12 points, 77-65, with just more than two minutes remaining. The Comets would perfect from both the field and line down the stretch, not missing a single shot in the final 4:55 of the contest.

UTD scored the first four points of the game and quickly took control of the contest. The Comets grabbed a double-digit lead, 19-17, after a Curtis Allen three-pointer with 11:19 left in the first half. UTD's largest lead of the night came with 4:28 left before the break when an Underwood bucket lifted the Comets to a 34-18 advantage. However, the Cowboys (17-10) would not roll over as HSU slowly picked away at the lead by closing the half on a 14-4 run and trim the lead down to just six points, 38-32, at the break. 

The Cowboys got as close as four points, after a Steven Quinn jumper on their opening possession of the second half, but that would be as close as HSU would get for the remainder of the night. The Comets answered with a 15-4 run over the next six minutes to regain a 15-point advantage with 13:48 on the clock after another Allen three-pointer. The Cowboys would climb back within single digits late in the contest, but no closer than nine points down the stretch.

Underwood went 9-for-18 from the field and 6-for-6 from the line for a game-high 24 points, while adding 10 rebounds for his ASC-leading 16th 'double-double' of the season. He also finished with a game-high seven assists. Allen hit six treys for 18 points while Weber added 14 points, Forster had 12 points and Hans Burwitz had 10 points. The Comets' starting line up accounted for 78 of the squad's 88 points.

UTD shot 48.3 percent (28-of-58) from the floor while making 10-of-26 three-pointers (38.5%).