Final Stats | Quotes | Notes

PEORIA, Ill. -- With temperatures outside hovering below 30 degrees, the UTA men's basketball team overcame a cold shooting night inside Carver Arena to claim a tight 56-51 road victory at Bradley.

Junior forward Kevin Hervey scored a game-high 15 points and grabbed 14 rebounds, one short of his career high, to lead the Mavericks to their eighth straight victory. UTA improved to 9-3 on the season, heading into its final non-league game of the regular season Thursday at Loyola Marymount. Bradley fell to 5-6 overall heading into Monday's game at Mississippi.

Junior point guard Erick Neal added 13 points and handed out five assists for UTA, which shot a cool 33.3 percent from the field and 23.1 percent on 6-of-26 shooting from behind the 3-point arc.

Sophomore guard Antoine Pittman led Bradley with 14 points. The Braves shot just 16.7 percent from behind the 3-point line, the second lowest (behind Texas) for a UTA opponent this season. The Mavericks are limiting opponents to less than 27 percent from distance, ranking second in the Sun Belt and among the national leaders in that statistical category.

Key Stretch
First Half: UTA raced out to an early 12-0 lead, limiting Bradley without a point for the first 7:38 of the game. But, the Braves turned the tide to go on a 16-3 run. BU grabbed a 16-15 lead on a fastbreak dunk by Dwayne Lautier-Ogunleye. Five different Bradley players scored during the run. Kevin Hervey scored on a jumper and a 3-pointer to put UTA back ahead at 20-16. UTA didn't trail again for the rest of the half and led by seven points at 31-24 going into the locker room.

Second Half: With 4:44 left on the clock and the Mavs struggling offensively, Erick Neal drove to the basket, made a layup in traffic and was fouled. He converted the traditional 3-point play. Less than :30 seconds later, he found Jalen Jones open in the corner. The Cedar Hill native drained a 3-pointer to put the Mavs up 50-42 and force a Bradley timeout with 4:05 left in the game.

Key Statistics
Cold-shooting, forced by a pair of solid defensive efforts, clearly affected both teams. UTA shot 33.3 percent from the field and 23.1 percent from the floor, while Bradley went 19-of-56 from the field for 33.9 percent and made just 16.7 percent of its 3-point attempts. The Braves also struggled from the free throw line, making just 9-of-17 charity shots for 52.9 percent. UTA has limited its opponents to under 30 percent from distance in six straight games.

Next Game
UTA plays its final non-conference game of the regular season Thursday when it travels to Southern California to face Loyola Marymount in a 9 p.m. (CST) tipoff in Gersten Pavilion.

The Mavericks open Sun Belt Conference play on Saturday, Dec. 31 against league newcomer Coastal Carolina. Tickets are available online at UTATickets.com or by calling the UTA Box Office at (817) 272-9595 during weekday business hours.

The 2017 Sun Belt Conference Men's and Women's Basketball Championships are scheduled for a week of March Madness in the Big Easy. New Orleans will once again be home to the two championships that will take place at Lakefront Arena from March 7-12 and ticket books can now be purchased from your school's ticket office. For more information, visit the Sun Belt Conference's championship central websites - Men's Championship - Women's Championship - and be sure to follow the #FunBelt on social media - @SunBelt.