Jan. 12, 2011
Final Stats
Huntsville, Tex. - The UT Arlington men's basketball team had a happy ride home from Huntsville for the first time in 11 years Wednesday night.
Bo Ingram had career-highs of 28 points and 10 rebounds to lead UT Arlington to a 65-58 victory over Sam Houston State.
Ingram used a combination of 3-point shooting, inside game and free throw shooting to lead the Mavericks (7-8, 1-1 Southland) to their first win at Sam Houston State since the 1998-99 season.
The junior made 8-of-13 from the field which included a 4-for-7 night from beyond the arc. He also made 8-of-9 from the foul line including four in the final minutes which sealed the victory.
"We have been doing our job and practicing hard," Ingram said. "We had to keep our heads up after the loss the other day. Tonight we came out and just stuck to our game plan and it worked. If we play hard like we did tonight, we can beat anyone in the league."
The Mavericks head coach liked what he saw out of his junior from North Carolina.
"He played with great intensity all night," UTA head coach Scott Cross said. "He was equally as good on the other end of the floor as he helped hold (Gilberto) Clavell in check."
The game was a hard-fought affair from the opening tip but the Mavericks got after loose balls and held a good rebounding team in check the entire game.
"I couldn't be happier and proud of the guys," Cross said. "We weren't special on offense but we fought and hustled and when we do that we have a chance to win."
UT Arlington finished the game shooting 36.8% but held last year's Southland Conference champions to 34.6% from the field. The Mavericks also held Sam Houston State (8-7, 1-1 Southland) to just 18.2% (4-of-22) from 3-point range.
"If we play like that on defense we will have chances to win our share of games," Cross added.
The Mavericks also took better care of the basketball.
UTA had 20 turnovers, which is still on the high side of the team's goal for a game, but it was a far cry from the season-high 31 they registered at Nicholls in the conference season opener last Saturday. SHS was able to turn those into 17 points. Meanwhile the Mavericks defense forced 21 turnovers which they turned into 15 points.
One of the better rebounding teams in the league, Sam Houston won the rebounding battle by a 45-39 margin but the Mavericks registered 14 offensive rebounds which they turned into 15 second chance points.
The Mavericks led 29-26 at halftime and then increased their lead to 13 with just over nine minutes to play. Sam Houston then cut the lead to six before Ingram answered with a 3-pointer a few minutes later. After that, UTA never led by less than six points the rest of the way.
Bradley Gay added 10 points for UTA while Jordan Reves had seven points, seven rebounds and three blocks.
Clavell led Sam Houston with 16 points and 12 rebounds while Antuan Bootle had a game-high 15 rebounds to go along with six points.
