LAS CRUCES, N.M. — Jason Terry made a 3-pointer with four seconds left tolead the Dallas Mavericks to a 101-99 victory over the Sacramento Kings in apreseason game on Tuesday night.

Sacramento led for much of the night, but the Mavericks were 9-of-17 fromthe field in the fourth quarter and got 11 points from forward Dirk Nowitzki topull out the win. Nowitzki led the Mavericks (2-2) with 23 points and Terryadded 15. Jerry Stackhouse finished with 17 points and Devin Harris had 11.

The game featured the return of former New Mexico State men’s coach ReggieTheus, who went 41-23 during his two years in Las Cruces and led the Aggies tothe NCAA tournament this past March before signing on with the Kings.

Mavericks All-Star Josh Howard was ejected after delivering a forearm to theback of Sacramento center Brad Miller’s neck. He also pushed Miller, who hadshoved Dallas guard Devin Harris to the ground.

Sacramento took a 99-98 lead with 11 seconds left on two free throws by JohnSalmons after three lead changes and six ties in the final quarter.

“We did some good things tonight,” Terry said. “We’re still trying to getthe kinks out and get some new people involved in what we are doing. But we madesome strides tonight.”

Dallas outrebounded Sacramento 44-29 and was 31-of-37 from the free throwline. Sacramento missed 14-of-42 from the line.

Mike Bibby scored 21 points to lead five Kings in double figures. ForwardRon Artest added 19 points, Kevin Martin had 17, Brad Miller 16 and Salmonschipped in 10.

“We did some good things and we can build on those,” Theus said. “We werethe worst rebounding team in the NBA last year and got beat tonight. We alsoneed to hit our free throws. This was a good game for us. We got people someneeded work and they responded.”

Sacramento led 25-18 after the first quarter and 46-44 at halftime. TheKings shot 55 percent in the first quarter and got 11 points from Martin and 10from Bibby to lead the way in the opening 24 minutes.