NBA Game Summary - Toronto at Charlotte
Charlotte, NC (SportsNetwork.com) - Al Jefferson scored 23 points and grabbed 13 rebounds to lead the Charlotte Hornets to a 103-94 win over the Toronto Raptors on Friday.
Charlotte never trailed in its fourth straight win. Mo Williams also netted 23 points with seven assists, Gerald Henderson scored 13 and Lance Stephenson had 11 points and eight boards off the bench.
"Before the game, we said this was going to be a grind out game," said Williams. "We were playing against a really good team."
The struggling Raptors lost for the seventh time in eight games despite a combined 55 points from guards DeMar DeRozan and Kyle Lowry. No other Raptor reached double figures.
"We're a jump-shooting team," said Lowry. "We've got to find a way to get ourselves in the paint a little bit better."
Charlotte used a methodical 11-0 run in the fourth quarter to pull away. Stephenson started the spurt with a fadeaway, and the Hornets got the next seven points from the free throw line. Stephenson's tip-in capped the run, making it 91-75. Earlier, he goaded Lowry into a flagrant foul that kept the run going.
At the other end, the Raptors went nearly five minutes without scoring. DeRozan turned a Stephenson technical foul into three points with a dunk after hitting the technical free throw.
Lowry hit three shots from beyond the arc in the final minute to make the final score more respectable.
Henderson's 3 at 4:45 of the first quarter gave Charlotte an 11 point lead, but it led just 25-24 after Toronto closed the quarter on a 14-4 run.
Despite cutting their deficit to one point on two occasions, the Raptors could never get one more basket to take the lead in the second quarter. An 8-0 Charlotte spurt led by four points from Stephenson helped give the Hornets a 53-42 lead at the break.
A 9-0 Toronto run early in the third quarter, led by DeRozan's five points and Lowry's four, cut Toronto's deficit to four points. Brian Roberts' jumper in the final minute put the Hornets up 77-71 after three.