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Jefferson, Tolliver lead Bobcats to rare win over Mavs

Feb 12, 2014 - 4:08 AM Charlotte, NC (SportsNetwork.com) - Al Jefferson racked up 30 points and Anthony Tolliver added a season-high 22 in the Charlotte Bobcats' 114-89 drubbing of the Dallas Mavericks at Time Warner Cable Arena.

Jefferson went 14-of-23 from the field and Tolliver knocked down 5-of-10 attempts from 3-point range for a Bobcats team that shot an impressive 54.9 percent en route to only its second win in 19 lifetime meetings with Dallas.

Gerald Henderson finished with 15 points on a 7-of-11 success rate for Charlotte, with Josh McRoberts contributing a career-best 13 assists to the rout.

Dirk Nowitzki battled through a sprained left ankle to record 16 points, but the Mavericks struggled mightily on the defensive end as their season-high five-game win streak was halted. Monta Ellis also had 16 points along with seven assists in the loss.

"Defensively, we had been doing a good job, but we gave up too many open shots [tonight] and we just weren't there mentally," Mavericks guard Devin Harris remarked.

Up 28-26 at the end of a tightly played opening quarter, the Bobcats took control by beginning the second on a 10-0 run fueled by their second unit. Tolliver led the charge by accounting for six of those points, with Bismack Biyombo netting the other four.

Nowitzki limped off the court early in the second quarter, and Charlotte took advantage of the Mavericks' star's absence to maintain a double-digit differential into the break. With Jefferson and Tolliver each tallying 16 points over the first two periods, the Bobcats cruised into halftime carrying a 58-44 lead.

Nowitzki returned to start the second half and scored 14 points following the intermission, but Charlotte still put the game well out of reach early in the third quarter. McRoberts buried a pair of 3-pointers during a 13-1 spurt that Kemba Walker capped with a trey of his own to extend the margin to 71-45 just four minutes into the frame.

"The defense had to pick and choose its poison," said Jefferson. "They could play me one-on-one. If they didn't, then Josh had threes or Kemba was attacking."

The Bobcats went into the fourth quarter up comfortably at 89-65, with Dallas never getting closer than 17 points down during the final stanza.

Game Notes

Walker exited the game in the fourth quarter due to a sore Achilles tendon ... Charlotte dished out a franchise-record 42 assists on 45 field goals, with Walker recording nine helpers and fellow guard Ramon Sessions eight ... The Bobcats' only prior win over the Mavs came in Charlotte on Nov. 10, 2012, a 1010-97 overtime decision in which Nowitzki did not play ... Tolliver's previous season best was 21 points, set at Minnesota on Jan. 10 ... The Mavericks close out their first-half schedule at Indiana on Wednesday, while Charlotte will visit Brooklyn Wednesday in its final game before the All-Star break.