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Calderon leads Raptors past Hornets

Mar 2, 2011 - 3:22 AM Toronto, ON (Sports Network) - Jose Calderon scored a season-high 22 points, dished out 16 assists and pulled down seven rebounds as Toronto fended off a late rally by New Orleans to win 96-90 at Air Canada Centre.

DeMar DeRozan added 17 points and Sonny Weems scored 14 points as the Raptors closed out a 2-2 homestand. Andrea Bargnani, who missed Toronto's game on Sunday with flu-like symptoms, had 14 points while James Johnson finished with 13 points and five boards.

"We played very good team defense," Calderon said. "My teammates were always there for me."

David West scored 19 points and grabbed 10 rebounds for the Hornets, who started a five-game road trip with a loss and dropped to 14-18 on the road this season. Carl Landry and Jarrett Jack each scored 17 points while Chris Paul had a quiet seven points and five assists.

It seemed that Toronto had the game in hand with three minutes left in the third, holding onto a 17-point lead, 70-53. But the Hornets used a 20-6 run spanning into the final quarter to pull within three. Marco Belinelli's three- pointer with 8:53 to go finished the spurt.

The lead was cut to two with 5:48 left after Landry made a driving lay-in. Toronto, though, answered back with a Bargnani jumper and a Calderon pull-up shot to go up 88-82.

From there, the Raptors kept the comeback at bay.

Toronto took a 27-20 lead after 12 minutes of play. Calderon led the charge with eight points and six assists, including a rare four-point play midway through the quarter.

"That wasn't the way we wanted to start," Hornets head coach Monty Williams said. "We talked about this in the shootaround this morning. We want to start the game with a sense of urgency."

In the second quarter, the Hornets used an 11-2 run to knot the game, 31-31. During that span, Jack went 4-for-4 with nine points.

But Toronto responded with a 20-5 run a little later to finish out the half.

DeRozen played a large part of the burst with eight points and Calderon's pull-up jumper with 2.7 seconds left in the half gave the Raptors a 57-42 edge at the break.

Game Notes

The Raptors will cross the Atlantic Ocean to London, England for two games against the New Jersey Nets on March 4-5. The two teams will play at The O2 Arena, where events from the 2012 Summer Olympics will be held. New Jersey will be considered the home team for these contests...New Orleans will also visit the Knicks, Grizzlies, Cavs and Bulls on the upcoming road swing...Toronto had 11 blocks. Johnson had seven, while the Hornets had three as a team.