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Jefferson, Sessions lead Bucks past Pacers

Feb 12, 2009 - 7:13 AM MILWAUKEE (Ticker) -- Richard Jefferson scored 32 points and Ramon Sessions added a double-double to lead the Milwaukee Bucks to a 122-110 victory over the Indiana Pacers on Wednesday.

Jefferson made four 3-pointers and added seven rebounds and four assists for the Bucks, who enter the All-Star break on a modest two-game winning streak.

Sessions had 15 points and 17 assists, finishing three rebounds shy of his first career triple-double.

"We had a little trouble keeping them in front of us," Indiana coach Jim O'Brien said. "(Sessions) has been playing great for them. He's a very difficult guy to contain."

"Any player that can put out 17 assists is doing something great. He's one of the best young point guard in this league," Jefferson said.

Danny Granger scored 26 points but was just 5-of-18 from the field for Indiana, which led 59-57 at the half but was outscored, 65-51, after the break.

"They just had our number tonight. We had a lot of open shots that we missed and they made them," Granger said. "Once again, our defensive let us down. It's another case of we can beat Cleveland but we lost to Milwaukee. We have to figure it out."

Jefferson scored 22 of his points in the second half while Charlie Bell scored 20 points off the bench and Charlie Villanueva netted 17 for the Bucks (26-29), who matched their win total from last season.

"That's a major accomplishment tying that now. We've got 27 games left, so that's huge," Villanueva said. "We're trying to make a playoff push. Regardless of who's on the floor, we're trying to make that happen and we'll take it a game at a time."

Milwaukee led 101-94 before Jarrett Jack scored five straight points, including a three-point play make it a two-point game with just over five minutes left.

The Bucks responded with an 8-0 run capped by a three-point play by Villanueva that made it 109-99 with 4:03 remaining.

"One thing we knew we were capable of was scoring, and our defense is pretty decent," Villanueva said. "We're playing good basketball right now. Regardless of the circumstances, with the players that aren't playing, we're playing good basketball."

Troy Murphy scored 23 points, Jack added 21 and T.J. Ford collected 14 and 13 assists for the Pacers.