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Wizards top Pelicans

Jan 9, 2014 - 5:36 AM New Orleans, LA (SportsNetwork.com) - Trevor Ariza scored 21 points to go along with 10 rebounds as the Washington Wizards continued their recent success on the road with a 102-96 win over the New Orleans Pelicans.

John Wall and Bradley Beal finished with 20 and 17 points, respectively, in helping Washington win for the sixth time in its last seven road tilts.

Marcin Gortat registered a double-double with 11 points and 14 rebounds in the win, the Wizards fourth straight over the Pelicans, including their third straight in the Big Easy.

"We played with a sense of urgency," said Wall. "We (are) all committing on the defensive end and it's helping us all out."

Eric Gordon paced New Orleans with 23 points, while Anthony Davis posted 21 points, seven rebounds and three blocks in New Orleans' third straight loss.

Washington scored the first 12 points of the second as New Orleans didn't make a basket until Davis hit a jumper at 7:36.

Martell Webster hit a pair of 3s during the burst and Nene added four points for a 40-28 Washington lead.

Jrue Holiday, who finished with eight points on 3-for-11 shooting, followed Davis' make with a pair of buckets to trim the deific it to 40-34.

Washington answered with a 9-0 sprint to push the lead to 15 with just over two minutes left in the half.

Both teams traded buckets down the stretch and the Wizards scored the final five points of the second to take a 61-44 lead into the break.

After the Pelicans pulled to within nine over the first three minutes of the third, Beal scored 11 points as part of a 16-2 run that gave the Wizards a 77-54 lead.

Washington led comfortably for the rest of the third and early in the fourth until an almost five minute scoring drought helped New Orleans get back into the game.

Jan Vesely made an alley-oop dunk from Garrett Temple at 8:35 to keep the cushion at 91-70. The next bucket came via a Gortat tip-in with 3:37 left.

Meanwhile, New Orleans was in the midst of a 17-2 run during the drought that was capped by a three-point play from Austin Rivers to pull the hosts within six, 93-87.

Ariza answered with a triple to make it a nine-point contest with under three minutes left and the Pelicans couldn't get any closer than six the rest of the way.

"They just played harder," said Pelicans coach Monty Williams. "The biggest deal to me was the level of competing was different. As you saw in the fourth quarter all we did was compete and do what we do. We didn't make any adjustments, we just did what we were supposed to do and we had a 30-15 quarter."

Earlier, Gordon made a layup to jump-start a 12-0 run that he capped with a free throw and give the Pelicans a 20-12 lead with 4:21 left in the first.

Washington countered with an 11-0 run that was opened and closed with 3s from Wall.

The teams were tied at 28 at the end of the first quarter.

Game Notes

Vesely and Nene scored 12 and 11, respectively, off the bench for Washington ... Brian Roberts scored 11 points off the bench, while Greg Stiemsma added 10 points in a reserve role for New Orleans ... Washington shot 38-for-80 (47.5 percent) from the field and 10-for-21 (47.6 percent) from deep ... New Orleans was outrebounded 46-37 ... The Wizards largest lead was 23 ... There were three ties and four lead changes.