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Jefferson leads Jazz over Bobcats

Mar 8, 2012 - 4:46 AM Charlotte, NC (Sports Network) - Al Jefferson scored 31 points and pulled down nine rebounds to lead the Jazz to a 99-93 victory over the Bobcats in a battle of last place teams coming in.

Paul Millsap chipped in 16 points and Derrick Favors had 14 off the bench for the Jazz, who sat in the basement of the Northwest Division but have won four of their last five to pull even at 19-19.

Charlotte, trying to win back-to-back games for the first time this season, was led by Corey Maggette's 25 points. Kemba Walker added 19 points and fellow reserve Byron Mullens netted 16 in defeat.

On Tuesday, the Bobcats rallied from 20 down to beat the Magic for just their fifth win of the season. A second straight comeback was not in the cards, as they trailed by double digits through most of the fourth quarter and scored the last seven points to make the score appear closer than it really was.

"We're turning things around," said Mullens, putting a positive spin on the loss. "Instead of losing by 30 or 40 points a game, we're losing by three or six...We'll get there."

Charlotte trailed 22-21 after the first and was still within 51-47 at the break.

It was still a four-point game before Jefferson made consecutive buckets to start a string of 10 straight Jazz points, pushing the margin to 63-49 with 4 1/2 minutes gone in the third.

Utah went ahead 74-54 on a Millsap putback a short time later, and was comfortable in front, 80-64, heading to the fourth after making 13-of-22 (59 percent) shots from the field in the third.

"In the third quarter we played about as well as we did all night," Jazz head coach Tyrone Corbin said. "It gave us enough of a cushion to finish it off in the end."

Game Notes

The Jazz improved to 5-13 away from Salt Lake City...Utah has won six straight meetings with Charlotte...Josh Howard scored 12 points for Utah, which won the battle in the paint, 54-36, and had 21 more second-chance points.