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Battier scores 26 as Rockets beat Raptors 124-112

Oct 16, 2009 - 2:29 AM TORONTO(AP) -- Shane Battier scored 26 points and Trevor Ariza added 18 as the Houston Rockets made 13 3-pointers in a 124-112 preseason victory over the Toronto Raptors on Thursday night.

Battier made his first seven 3-point attempts and finished 8 of 9 from behind the arc. Ariza was 3 of 5 as Houston finished 13 of 23 from 3-point range.

"Offensively we were pretty good all night long," Rockets coach Rick Adelman said. "I liked the way we pushed the ball and kept attacking. Of course, it always helps when you shoot the ball like Shane shot it."

It was just the second game of the preseason for Battier, who sat out the first three with a sore hamstring.

"The first game I played I think I fell down four of the first six times on the court," Battier said with a laugh. "To go from that to feeling much better about being on my feet today was a plus."

Former Raptor Pops Mensah-Bonsu scored 17 points, including several dunks, for the Rockets (3-2), while Carl Landry added 14 points and Kyle Lowry had 12 points and seven assists.

Andrea Bargnani scored 16 points and Chris Bosh had 13 for the Raptors (2-4), who lost their second game in as many days. Boston beat Toronto 106-90 on Wednesday in Hartford, Conn.

Bosh said the Raptors "took a step back" defensively.

"We have to get back to the drawing board a little bit," he said. "It wasn't our best output and we're going to have to play a lot better on defense if we want to win a lot of basketball games. There can't be any slippage. Some nights your shots are going to be off but you can always move your feet and be in the right spot."

Rookie DeMar DeRozan and Sonny Weems scored 11 points each for Toronto, while Amir Johnson had 10 points and seven rebounds and Jarrett Jack added seven points and nine assists.

Toronto was 2 for 13 from 3-point range.

Battier had three 3-pointers in the first quarter but a buzzer-beating jumper by Bargnani gave Toronto a 29-28 lead after one.

Bargnani scored nine points in the second quarter and Johnson added eight as Toronto went ahead by as many as 11, but Ariza had eight points as the Rockets closed within 63-62 at halftime.

Battier made three more 3s in the third before finally missing and Houston led 93-89 entering the fourth quarter.

Hedo Turkoglu, who made his Raptors debut on Wednesday, scored nine points in 22 minutes, then spent the rest of the game stretching in the locker room.

Raptors forward Reggie Evans, who sprained his left foot Wednesday, was on crutches and will miss the team's final two preseason games. Toronto opens the regular season at home against Cleveland on Oct. 28.

Luis Scola, who left Monday's loss to Milwaukee with a sprained right ankle, dressed but did not play for the Rockets.

Tracy McGrady, recovering from offseason microfracture surgery on his left knee, watched from behind the bench in the first half but did not come out for the second.