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Brewer helps Nuggets continue home dominance of Raptors

Dec 4, 2012 - 6:00 AM Denver, CO (Sports Network) - Corey Brewer poured in 19 points to lead six Denver players in double figures on Monday, as the Nuggets survived a late rally from the Toronto Raptors to take a 113-110 victory at Pepsi Center.

Kenneth Faried followed with 18 points and 10 rebounds, JaVale McGee netted 17 points and Ty Lawson donated 16 to help Denver put the brakes on a three-game skid.

Danilo Gallinari chipped in 13 points and Kosta Koufos added 10 points and 10 boards in the victory.

Kyle Lowry led Toronto with a game-high 24 points to go with seven assists, while Andrea Bargnani tallied 23 points and DeMar DeRozan finished with 18 points and seven boards for the Raptors, who haven't won in Denver since Dec. 30, 2003.

Denver held a 61-44 advantage at the break and led by double-digits throughout the third before carrying an 89-75 lead into the final frame.

A Faried dunk midway through the fourth found the Nuggets holding a 103-86 edge before the Raptors made their run.

Lowry sparked the outburst with a three-point play, igniting an 11-0 Raptors run to trim the visitors' deficit to single digits for the first time since the second quarter.

Lowry capped the surge with a pair at the line before Terrence Ross buried a triple just over a minute later to bring Toronto within 105-102 with 2:38 left.

"We decided to play defense the last few minutes of the game," Raptors head coach Dwyane Casey said. "We just have to do it for longer periods of time."

After a Lawson turnover, Lowry nailed two more from the charity stripe to cut the deficit to one, but Lawson made up for his gaffe by burying a 3-pointer at the other end to give Denver a 108-104 edge with two minutes left.

Both offenses went cold from there, as neither team scored until Andre Miller knocked down a pair at the line to press the lead to six with 18.1 ticks on the clock.

Lowry answered with a trey at the other end and after Andre Iguodala connected on two free throws, Amir Johnson knocked down a 3-pointer of his own to cut the difference to 112-110 with 7.9 remaining.

Faried then split a pair at the line to leave the door open for the Raptors, but DeRozan's 3-point try at the buzzer clanked off the rim and the Nuggets escaped with the victory.

"We need to start closing out better," Lawson said. "We have to be smarter."

The Nuggets dominated the paint in the first half to build their 17-point halftime edge, as they outscored the Raptors 38-20 in the paint and won the rebounding battle, 31-14, over the opening 24 minutes.

Game Notes

The Nuggets are 15-2 in their last 17 games against the Raptors ... Ross finished with 12 points and six rebounds, and Johnson added 11 points for the Raptors ... All 19 players that appeared in the game scored at least one point ... Denver scored 19 fastbreak points compared to just two for Toronto.