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Cousins leads Kings to rare win over Spurs

Nov 16, 2014 - 7:08 AM Sacramento, CA (SportsNetwork.com) - DeMarcus Cousins scored 21 of his 25 points in the second half to lead the Sacramento Kings to a 94-91 breakthrough win over the San Antonio Spurs at Sleep Train Arena.

Cousins' monster performance, which included 10 rebounds, helped the Kings snap a nine-game losing streak against the reigning NBA champions and a three- game skid overall.

Darren Collison added 19 points and Rudy Gay had 18 along with six assists in the victory, just Sacramento's second in the last 23 meetings between the teams.

"They're the best in the league, you know?," Kings forward Omri Casspi said of the Spurs. "Obviously after having two tough losses on the road, to come back home and see a (sold) out arena. The fans trust us, and we had to deliver."

Manu Ginobili dropped in 21 points off the bench for San Antonio, but the Spurs couldn't hold onto a slim lead in the final minutes in the finale of a four-game road trip they began with three straight wins.

"It was still a great road trip," said Spurs point guard Tony Parker. "We wanted to be greedy and go 4-0, but 3-1 -- especially with the Clippers and Golden State back-to-back -- it's tough to do, especially with all (our) injuries."

Kawhi Leonard and Danny Green each finished with 16 points in the loss, with Tim Duncan posting 15 points and eight rebounds for the Spurs.

San Antonio trailed the entire third quarter and was down 10, 78-68, with 8 1/2 minutes to play before charging hard down the stretch. The Spurs scored the next seven points to make it a one-possession game, then later put forth an 8-2 run in which Tony Parker buried a 3-pointer and scored off a Duncan give to claim an 88-87 edge with two minutes to go.

Gay was fouled on the other end and made both foul shots to put the Kings back in front. After Parker missed badly on a corner jumper, Sacramento won a jump ball to save a possession and Collison got an off-balance driving layup to go with 28.4 seconds remaining to extend the lead to three.

Ginobili answered two Cousins free throws with a 3-point play to bring the Spurs within 93-91 with 8.3 seconds showing. San Antonio had a chance to force overtime after Collison hit just 1-of-2 from the line, but Ginobili was off the mark on a 26-footer.

Collison scored six points to lead a 12-0 run near the end of the first half that staked Sacramento to a 45-36 advantage, which the Spurs cut to seven at the break on two Ginobili free throws.

The Spurs shot 52 percent in the third quarter to close the gap to 70-66 at period's end, but the Kings began the fourth with an 8-2 sequence that Gay capped with a runner to put Sacramento up by double digits.

Game Notes

San Antonio had won in 11 straight visits to Sacramento, with the Kings' previous home victory in the series coming on Nov. 26, 2007 ... With Ginobili leading the way, the Spurs' bench outscored Sacramento's reserves by a 31-20 margin ... The Kings owned a decided 58-34 advantage in points in the paint ... Sacramento failed to make a 3-pointer, going 0-for-12 from beyond the arc.