• Preview
• Recap
• Bleachers
• Game Tracker

Cousins, Thomas, help Kings down Jazz in OT

Dec 8, 2013 - 6:47 AM Salt Lake City, UT (SportsNetwork.com) - DeMarcus Cousins scored 28 points and Isaiah Thomas added 26 off the bench as the Sacramento Kings topped the Utah Jazz, 112-102, in overtime.

Cousins shot 10-of-15 from the floor and filled the stat sheet with seven rebounds and three blocks as the Kings snapped a six-game losing streak. Thomas also handed out a game-high eight assists in the triumph.

"Obviously, he's (Cousins) a major focus point for us," said Sacramento head coach Mike Malone. "We got their bigs in foul trouble. We wanted to establish DeMarcus in the post, feed off of him. And in overtime, we went to him almost exclusively with that one play, and he carried us."

Ben McLemore, not to be out-done by fellow rookie Trey Burke, scored 15 points for the Kings and drained a 3 in the final seconds of regulation to force the extra session after Burke made a pair of free throws.

Burke turned in one of the best games of his young career for Utah, tallying 19 points, 10 rebounds and seven helpers in the setback. Gordon Hayward paced the Jazz with 22 points and Alec Burks netted 19 off the bench.

"It hurts really bad," said Burke. "I felt like we definitely should have won this game but it was the small areas that killed us down the stretch. The beauty of this thing is we have another game on Monday."

Utah was without starting big man and leading rebounder Derrick Favors, who missed the contest with a sore lower back.

The Kings began to pull away early in the fourth after a back-and-forth third period that featured six ties and five lead changes. Patrick Patterson's jumper 4 1/2 minutes into the fourth put Sacramento in front 84-75, but it was all Utah after that until the final seconds.

The Jazz scored 16 straight points over the next 4:46 to assume control. Burke's 3 tied it at 84-84, and Hayward's jumper put the hosts on top. Hayward added another basket and a free throw around an Enes Kanter jumper before Cousins finally ended the Sacramento drought with a difficult layup in traffic.

Burke's free throws made it 97-94 with 11.9 ticks, but McLemore silenced the crowd by draining a 3 from the wing with 3.2 seconds left to force overtime.

Cousins and Thomas each made two baskets in the extra session and the Kings forced Utah into shooting just 1-of-9 from the floor. McLemore's jumper made it 108-102 with 1:20 left, and Thomas stripped Burke on the next possession before coasting in for a layup to put the game away.

"Tough loss," said Jazz head coach Tyrone Corbin. "I felt like the guys came back after last night and fought pretty hard. Made some mistakes down the stretch that cost you the game."

Earlier, Utah took its biggest lead of the contest at 43-33 on a Mike Harris hook shot midway through the second. McLemore split a pair from the line to cap a Sacramento run to end the half with the visitors down just 50-47.

Game Notes

This was Burke's first career double-double ... Kanter had a season-high four blocked shots ... Jeremy Evans grabbed a season-high nine rebounds for Utah ... Sacramento outscored the Jazz 58-40 in the paint ... The Kings bench outscored the Jazz 46-28. Sacramento's reserves have outscored their counterparts in four straight tilts.