ALPINE, Texas - Men's hoops led at the half but were bested in the second in a 66-54 Thursday night loss to UT Dallas.

With Xavier Webb and Patrick Mound unavailable, graduate assistant B.J. Hollis served as interim head coach.

"The guys battled the entire game and that's all I could have asked for," said Hollis. "I knew coming in it would be a tough task to beat UT Dallas. Coach Butterfield always puts a tough, physical team on the floor. We need to clean a few things up heading into Saturday for LeTourneau. We will give ourselves a good shot to win the game!"

"B.J. stepped up and did a great job," said Webb. "We hope everyone there saw the fight and commitment of our guys."

First Half
Julian Paredes gave the Lobos a 3-2 lead with an early triple before giving Sully a 6-4 advantage with another from beyond the arc. Paredes was hot early, hitting his third triple of the first half to put the Lobos up 12-8 at the midway point. The Lobos stretched the lead six twice before trailing 24-23 late. Paredes wasn't done, finishing the half with a jumper for a 25-24 advantage at the break.

Second Half
Paredes continued his tear, opening the second with a jumper. Trey Nelson then followed with his own jumper for a 29-24 lead. UTD came back with the next eight for a 32-29 advantage. Paredes stopped the run with a triple for a 32-32 tie, but the Comets answered with a 10-0 run with just over 11 minutes left. UTD controlled the tempo from there, leading by as many as 18 in a 66-54 final.

Stats
Paredes scored a team-high 21 points on 7-of-10 shooting, 5-of-6 from three and 2-of-2 from the free throw line. He finished tied for second on the team with five rebounds.

Gabe Sanchez had 11 points on 4-of-9 shooting and 3-of-7 from beyond the arc.

Caelyb Kerley led the Lobos with nine rebounds and added eight points.

Sully falls to 6-11 and 3-9 in conference. UTD stands at 10-4 and 6-3.

The Lobos finish the week at Gallego Center at 3:00 p.m. on Saturday against LeTourneau for Superhero Day.