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Frye fuels Suns over Nuggets

Jan 20, 2014 - 5:20 AM Phoenix, AZ (SportsNetwork.com) - Channing Frye erupted for a season-high 30 points in the Phoenix Suns' 117-103 win over the Denver Nuggets from US Airways Center.

Frye shot 12-of-16 from the field, including 5-of-7 from beyond the arc, while falling just three points shy of his career-high, set in 2011.

"It's always big when Channing makes shots," said Suns coach Jeff Hornacek. "Every time he touches it you think he's going to make it."

Markieff Morris and Goran Dragic netted 16 and 15 points, respectfully, in the Suns' third straight victory over Denver. Leandro Barbosa added 13 points off the bench.

Anthony Randolph paced the Nuggets with a season-high 19 points while Ty Lawson, Wilson Chandler and Evan Fournier all notched 17 points. Lawson also handed out 14 assists in the setback.

"It seemed like they were just taking turns scoring on us," said Denver coach Brian Shaw. "You can't continually give up 117 points and expect to win."

The Nuggets never led in this one, as Frye and P.J. Tucker hit 3s around a Dragic layup to open up an 8-0 edge early on.

The Suns led 34-25 after the first period and 62-56 at intermission despite allowing Denver to shoot 51.4 percent from the floor.

That number dropped to less than 38 percent over the final 24 minutes, as Denver went ice cold after halftime. Dragic's running bank shot put Phoenix up 71-57 three minutes into the third period.

It looked like the hosts would run away with it, but the pesky Nuggets found a way to keep their deficit in single digits until 7:17 of the fourth, when Marcus Morris' three-point play made it 98-86. Denver never threatened the rest of the way.

Frye was consistent throughout, scoring between five and 10 points in all four quarters.

Game Notes

The Suns have won 15 of the last 18 meetings in Phoenix. They'll go for the season-sweep of Denver on Feb. 18 when they visit Pepsi Center ... The Suns outscored the Nuggets 54-40 in the paint and 21-9 on second chance points ... J.J. Hickson had 14 points and 13 boards for the Nuggets ... Denver guard Randy Foye missed the contest with a stomach virus.