RICHARDSON, Texas -- Fueled by the largest crowd in school history, No. 16-ranked Texas-Dallas opened the NCAA tournament Friday night with a 85-70 win against Chapman in front of a record UTD Activity Center crowd.
A boisterous crowd of 1,437 fans cheered the Comets (now 26-3) on to second round of the national 62-team tournament. UTD will face Whitworth, a 75-73 winner against Trinity (Texas) in the other first round game.
With the win, the Comets tied a school record for wins at 26.
Senior forward Kyle Schleigh led the Comets with 24 points and a game-high seven assists as UTD shot 48.5 percent from the field despite struggles from 3-point range. In addition to Schleigh, all five UTD starters finished in double figures. Matthew Medell finished with16 points while Nolan Harvey had 15 points, Chris McOmber had 11 points and Dmitriy Chernikov added 10 points.
Chernikov grabbed a game-high nine rebounds as the Comets out-rebounded the Panthers 35-29. Harvey equaled Schleigh's assist total with seven dimes to lead UTD to a 25-13 advantage in assists.
