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Jazz go up big early, hold off Wizards

Jan 24, 2013 - 6:55 AM Salt Lake City, UT (Sports Network) - Paul Millsap scored 16 points to go with 15 rebounds and the Utah Jazz held off a late Wizards rally to take a 92-88 decision over Washington on Wednesday.

Al Jefferson notched a double-double as well with 11 points and 10 boards. Despite shooting just 38.1 percent in the second half, the Jazz were able to hold on for their fourth consecutive victory and sixth in seven games.

Gordon Hayward added 15 points off the bench for Utah, which received 11 points and six assists from Jamaal Tinsley and 12 points from Randy Foye in the win.

"You've got to give Washington a lot of credit. Those guys have a lot of pride and kept fighting. We also missed some shots and had some turnovers (in the fourth quarter)," said Jazz head coach Tyrone Corbin. "They scored 30 points in the fourth quarter after we held them to 19, 19, and 20. That just shows that they are going to compete and fight (to the end). Regardless of who you play in this league teams can score a lot of points."

The Wizards battled back from a 22-point first half hole, but ultimately fell short in attempting to finish with a winning record on their five-game road trip.

Martell Webster scored a team-best 15 points and John Wall finished with 14 points along with eight assists in the defeat.

"We fought our way back after miserable execution offensively in the first half. We started 27 or 28 percent shooting. We were missing good shots through the offense," said Wizards head coach Randy Wittman Guys tried to make it stop just by themselves. We got into a little bit of non-ball movement in the end."

After making 12-of-19 shots from the field in the first quarter, Utah took control in the second.

They opened the period with a 20-6 run, as Enes Kanter scored all 10 of his points during the stretch before Hayward capped it with a three-point play to give the Jazz a 47-25 lead at the midway point of the quarter.

The Wizards, who shot a miserable 29.8 percent in the first half, trailed 52-38 at the break. They went down by 21 in the third after Jefferson knocked down a long jumper, but soon began a run to get back in the game.

They bridged the third and fourth quarters with a 20-3 surge, with Wall and Jordan Crawford combining for 11 of the points during the run before Trevor Ariza drained a triple to bring the Wizards within 75-72 with 8:57 remaining in the game.

Two minutes later, a Kevin Seraphin jumper reduced Utah's lead to just two points, but Washington could never get over the hump completely.

Hayward scored on a layup and then split a pair from the line before Millsap finished a basket underneath the hoop to push the Utah's edge to seven.

Bradley Beal flushed home a jam with 1:10 remaining in the game to bring the Wizards within 88-84, but Millsap hit a back-breaking jumper with 21 seconds to go to increase the Jazz lead to 90-84.

Webster drained a triple at the other end to make it a one-possession game, but Foye sank a pair of free throws to ice the win.

Game Notes

The Wizards have dropped 21 of the last 25 meetings with the Jazz in Salt Lake City ... Utah has won five games in a row at home, where they are 14-4 on the season ... The Jazz have taken nine of the past 12 meetings overall with Washington.