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Bargnani leads the way as Raptors down Cavs

Jan 5, 2012 - 3:37 AM Toronto, ON (Sports Network) - Andrea Bargnani dropped a game-high 31 points and pulled down seven rebounds, leading the Toronto Raptors to a 92-77 victory over the Cleveland Cavaliers at Air Canada Centre.

DeMar DeRozan finished with 25 points and five rebounds, while Jose Calderon scored 13 and dished out 11 assists for the Raptors, who have won back-to-back games since dropping three straight.

"Everybody here wants to win," Calderon said. "I don't know if we're more comfortable than before, but if we keep winning like that everyone will be on the same page."

Antawn Jamison scored 19 points to go with six rebounds, while 2011 first- overall pick Kyrie Irving contributed 12 points for the Cavs, who had their two-game winning streak halted. Omri Casspi had 10 points and Anderson Varejao pulled down 13 rebounds for Cleveland.

After a tightly played opening quarter which saw each team lead by as many as three and the lead change six times, the Raptors led 21-18.

Toronto opened the second frame with a 9-3 run to take a 29-21 lead with three minutes gone. Cleveland responded by scoring seven of the next eight points to trim the deficit to two with over 5 1/2 minutes to go before halftime.

A trey by DeRozan gave the Raptors their largest lead of the half, 43-34, and they led by seven at the break.

Toronto led throughout the third stanza, and began to pull away in the latter stages of the frame.

The Cavs scored the first four points of the quarter to cut the deficit to three, but Toronto responded with a 7-0 spurt to push the lead back to 10 with just over three minutes gone.

A trey by Anthony Parker cut the Raptors' lead to five with 5 1/2 minutes left in the quarter, but the Raptors again had an answer, using an 8-0 push to increase the lead to 13 with 3:11 left in the third stanza. They led by 15 heading into quarter number four.

The Cavs never threatened in the final 12 minutes and the Raptors rolled to the easy win.

"This was big for us, especially the young guys," Jamison said of playing the second leg of a back-to-back. "A lot of guys have played a lot of minutes. It's not the way we wanted to start the road trip."

Game Notes

Despite the loss, Cleveland leads the all-time series between the teams, 35-28...Toronto shot 47 percent from the floor, and 36 percent from three- point range, while Cleveland shot 30 percent from the floor and 30 percent from beyond the arc...Raptors' guard Jerryd Bayless did not play due to a sprained left ankle...Parker finished with eight points and a pair of rebounds...Cleveland will head to Minnesota to play the Timberwolves on Friday, while the Raptors will host the Nets, also on Friday.