RICHARDSON, Texas â€" A new era in Texas Lutheran Men's Basketball opened on Saturday, with TLU falling on the road 92-77 to No. 22 Texas-Dallas.
 
It was the first official game at the helm of the Bulldog program for head coach Jimmy Smith. The two teams marked the memorable day by shooting free throws --over and over again.
 
The two teams combined to shoot 84 freebies, making 63 of them. The Bulldogs finished 26-of-34 from the line, while the Comets shot 37-of-50.
 
Jordan Kouremetis (San Antonio, Texas) led the way for the Bulldogs with a team-high 20 points. The sophomore showed a knack for getting to the free throw line last year as a freshman, and it appears that trend will continue this season after making 10-of-11 from the stripe on Saturday. He finished 4-of-11 from the field and provided TLU with two of its five three-point buckets.
 
Two newcomers also finished in double figures for the Bulldogs. Zach Behr (Temple, Texas) finished with 11 points, three rebounds and two steals. Sterling Holmes (San Antonio, Texas) added 10 points to go along with four assists, four rebounds and three steals.
 
The two big differences in the game came behind the three-point line, where Texas-Dallas made six more shots that TLU, and at the charity stripe.
 
The Comets opened the game on a 7-0 run to take the early lead, but the Bulldogs battled back to tie things up at 20-20 with 10:46 to go in the opening frame. The score remained close, but a Nolan Harvey 3-pointer at the end of the half gave the Comets a 47-39 lead heading into the locker room.
 
Harvey was the leader for Texas-Dallas, scoring 38 points in 25 minutes of action. He did a majority of his damage at the free throw line, where he shot 21-of-22.
 
Kouremetis opened the second half with a 3-pointer to bring the Bulldogs to within five, but that's the closest they would get. The Comets would push the lead up to double-digits and hold off TLU the rest of the way.
 
The Bulldogs shot nearly 42 percent from the field for the game. The bench came up big, scoring 32 points.
 
Bulldog fans will have their first chance to see Smith's squad in action next week when the Bulldogs play host to Concordia-Texas at 7:30 p.m. on Tuesday, Nov. 18. Live video and live stats will be available via tlubulldogs.com.