RICHARDSON, Texas – UT-Dallas took an early commanding lead from which McMurry could not recover and the Comets won Saturday afternoon 86-68 at the UTD Activity Center. UT-Dallas opened the game with a 21-5 lead and McMurry spent the duration of the contest trying to make up ground, but the Comets matched the visitors point for point.

The Comets outscored McMurry only 40-38 in the second half. Curtis Davis scored all 16 of his points for McMurry in the second half and Dewayne Hall scored all 16 of his points in the first half. However, UT-Dallas was the story. The Comets shot 56.4 percent for the game and rained nine 3-pointers including six in the first half.

In the initial run where the Comets pulled ahead so early, the home team's first three field goals were beyond the 3-point arc. UT-Dallas had five players in double figures in the balanced scoring effort. Jimmy Witten and Temaine Wright led the Comets with 13 points apiece, Ernie Lowery had 12, Scott Rodgers had 11 and Andy Maish had 10.

The Comets won the turnover battle as well; the home team had just nine turnovers and McMurry had 21. For the second-straight game McMurry's opponent reached the foul line much more as UT-Dallas made 31 trips to McMurry's 14.

The Comets only hit 15 of their free throws or it could have been a larger victory. McMurry shot 7 of 12 from behind the 3-point arc in the first half, but was just 1 of 8 from 3-point land in the second half.

McMurry fell to 4-8 overall and 1-7 in the American Southwest Conference. UT-Dallas improved to 10-3 overall and 6-2 in league play.

McMurry will return home next week and will play host to Concordia-Texas Thursday and then nationally-ranked Mary Hardin-Baylor Saturday.