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DeRozan leads Raptors past Nets

Jan 12, 2014 - 4:02 AM Toronto, ON (SportsNetwork.com) - DeMar DeRozan poured in a game-high 26 points to lead the Toronto Raptors to a 96-80 win over the Brooklyn Nets.

Patrick Patterson added 14 points and 12 boards, John Salmons scored 13 and Terrence Ross and Kyle Lowry finished with 14 and 12 points, respectively, for the Raptors, winners in six of their last eight games.

Paul Pierce led Brooklyn with 15 points and Joe Johnson added 11 points, six rebounds and six assists. Alan Anderson finished with 13 for the Nets, who had a season-high five-game winning streak snapped. It was Brooklyn's first loss of 2014.

"Brooklyn is a tough team. Their defense is their strength. During their winning streak it was their defense that has helped them more than their offense," said Raptors coach Dwane Casey.

Toronto led 68-64 at the start of the final frame, but a 10-1 burst made it 78-65 at the 7:23 mark. Brooklyn scored the next six points of the game to make it 78-71, but a Salmons 3-pointer with 2:55 remaining capped a 10-2 burst that put the Raptors on top 88-73.

The Nets couldn't get closer than 12 the rest of the way.

Toronto led 24-18 after 12 minutes. The Raptors' lead grew to 13, 40-27, following a Salmons trey, but the Nets outscored Toronto 15-7 the rest of the way to go into the break trailing 47-42.

Brooklyn led 62-52 in the third with 4:42 left, but Toronto closed the frame on a 16-2 run, capped with DeRozan's 3-pointer at the buzzer.

"The guys fought hard, but we came up short. We came to win a game, we put ourselves in position to win, but sometimes the ball doesn't go your way," said Nets coach Jason Kidd.

Game Notes

The Raptors outrebounded the Nets 49-39 ... Brooklyn allowed 20 points off 15 turnovers ... The Nets fell to 5-13 on the road this season.