The UTA Mavericks knew a historic night come Feb. 1, when the College Park Center opens. But another one came a little more than a week early.
The Mavericks set a program record with their 10th straight win, holding on late to beat Houston Baptist 79-74.
Bo Ingram scored a season-high 23 points while Lamarcus Reed added 18.
Ingram scored 12 in the first half, finding his bank shot early. His shots, along with Karol Gruezecki and Bradley Gay, helped the Mavs stretch a two-point lead to nine points midway through the half. Gruezecki's three pointer gave them a 10-point lead with five minutes left as UTA led 40-32 at halftime.
Two three-pointers from Ingram helped push the lead to 14 in the first 3 1/2 minutes of the second half, but the Baptist started to crawl back. Tyler Russell helped bring them to within 52-50 with 13 minutes to go. UTA pushed it back up to seven only to have the lead cut to one with less than 5 1/2 to go.
Houston Baptist continued to get within 3-4 points as the game wore down, but the Mavs kept fending them off, mainly by hitting 9 of 12 free throws in the final 1:12.
The Mavericks return to conference play on Saturday when they travel to Texas STate - their last game before opening the College Park Center.
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