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Kings rally past Jazz

Dec 9, 2014 - 6:36 AM Sacramento, CA (SportsNetwork.com) - Rudy Gay scored 29 points to lead the Sacramento Kings to a 101-92 victory over the Utah Jazz on Monday.

Darren Collison had 16 points and six assists, while rookie Nik Stauskas broke out of a slump with 15 points and eight rebounds for the Kings, who are back above .500 again after dropping five of their last six games.

"It's about time something went in for me," Stauskas said. "It's good to have a smile on my face and enjoy playing basketball again."

Gordon Hayward finished with 19 points and seven helpers, while Alec Burks and Trey Burke scored 16 and 13 points, respectively, for Utah, which lost its ninth straight game.

"They made some plays and made some shots, but we weren't able to make the same plays offensively that they were making," Jazz head coach Quin Snyder said.

With the game tied at 68-68 heading into the final stanza, Burks' two free throws gave Utah a brief lead before the Kings pulled away with a 12-0 run. Stauskas and Williams each provided five points during the spurt to make it an 80-70 game with 8:19 to go.

Utah whittled the deficit down to three points twice, but Sacramento had an answer each time as Stauskas' three-point play with just over three minutes to play gave the Kings enough of a cushion to hold on for the win.

The Jazz used a 12-2 run, which was capped by Burke's jumper, to take a 19-4 lead with under five minutes to play in the opening stanza. Hayward knocked down a trey with 1.3 seconds remaining as the Jazz took a 31-23 lead into the second quarter.

Stauskas' jumper put the finishing touches on an 8-0 run that gave the Kings a 44-41 lead. Sacramento ended the half with back-to-back dunks courtesy of Gay and Ben McLemore for a 55-49 score heading into the break

Utah got within a point after a pair of Burks free throws for a 60-59 game less than three minutes into the third and Rudy Gobert slammed his own rebound to give the Jazz a 67-66 edge.

Game Notes

The Jazz haven't lost nine in a row since March 4-19, 2005 ... Sacramento has won five of its last seven games as the host in the series ... Kings center DeMarcus Cousins missed his sixth straight game due to a viral infection ... Kings forward Reggie Evans had a game-high 13 boards ... Sacramento shot 47.3 percent from the floor, while Utah shot 40.5 percent.