ABILENE, TX (12.2.10) - The UT Dallas men's basketball team had to battle from behind Thursday night, but the Comets shut out the Hardin-Simmons Cowboys in the final five minutes of the game to pick up a key 58-54 American Southwest Conference win in their first road game of the season.

Junior Chris Barnes recorded his third "double-double" in five games, scoring a game-high 22 points and grabbing 12 rebounds as the Comets improved to 4-1 overall and 3-1 in ASC play. Senior Curtis Davis added 15 points and junior Greg Chiasson pitched in 10 points to round out the Comets in double figures.

Trailing 54-48 with 5:26 left in the contest, the Comets ended the game on a 10-0 run. Barnes hit a three-pointer to trim the deficit to three points just over 30 seconds later and Davis then cut the led to one point, 54-53, on a putback with 3:11 left.

With 2:22 remaining Barnes hit a pair of free throws to give UTD back a slim one-point lead, 55-54, and freshman Kyle Schleigh hit 3-of-4 free shots down the stretch to complete the come-from-behind victory. The Cowboys did have a couple of last-minute chances to tie or take the lead in the game, but missed critical shots down the stretch. Over the final 5:26, the Comets held HSU to 0-for-9 from the field as a team. In a game that saw five ties and eight lead changes, the Comets held a slight 28-27 halftime lead before HSU opened the second half on a 14-6 run to go up by seven (41-34) with 13:26 left in the game.

The Comets shot 45.2 pecent (19-of-42) from the field for the contest, hitting just 4-of-16 (25%) from three-point range, and hit 16-of-22 shots (72.7%) from the foul line. UTD held a 38-32 advantage in rebounding.

For HSU (now 3-2, 2-1 ASC), Matt Addison ended the night with 17 points while Derrick Jefferson added 12 points. Jefferson led the Cowboys with nine rebounds.

The marked the third straight opponent that the Comets have held under 55 points.

UTD closes out its first road trip of the season Saturday at McMurry. Tip-off is set for 3 p.m. in Abilene.