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Lowry's 39 carry Raptors over Jazz

Dec 4, 2014 - 5:58 AM Salt Lake City, UT (SportsNetwork.com) - Kyle Lowry scored a career-high 39 points to lead Toronto to a 123-104 win over Utah on Wednesday.

Lowry was 13-of-22 from the field and hit four shots from beyond the arc. Toronto as a team shot 57 percent from the field and made 12-of-21 3-point attempts.

Lou Williams and Greivis Vasquez each scored 17 for Toronto, which went 2-1 on a three-game road trip.

Derrick Favors and Enes Kanter led Utah with 19 points each. Kanter also pulled in a game-high nine rebounds.

Gordon Hayward chipped in 16 points for the Jazz, who have lost seven games in a row.

The Raptors shot better than 50.0 percent in the first three quarters of the game, but by the time Utah held them below that in the fourth, it was too late to matter. Lowry finished strong with 15 of Toronto's 26 points in the final period.

In addition to its hot shooting from the field, Toronto made 21-of-24 free throws, led by Lowry hitting all nine of his attempts. With less than a minute left, he sunk three from the charity stripe after being fouled attempting a 3- pointer.

"Obviously, Lowry was very, very difficult to guard," said Jazz coach Quin Snyder.

Most of the first quarter was played in a tight window where neither team led by more than five until the final 30 seconds when a flagrant foul on Rudy Gobert sent the Raptors on a 5-0 run to end the quarter with a 31-24 lead. Tyler Hansbrough knocked down both free throws, and Williams sunk a 3-pointer with six seconds left.

Trevor Booker opened the second with a jumper to cut Utah's deficit to five, but that's when Toronto embarked on a 19-6 run to expand its lead to a first half-high 18 points. Vasquez hit a pair of triples and added a layup for eight points during the run.

Utah was hot in the second quarter with a 55.0 field goal percentage, but it could not get stops. Toronto was even better, shooting 72.7 percent from the field and making 6-of-7 from beyond the arc.

Lowry led the Raptors with 11 second quarter points to stake Toronto to a 69-53 lead at the half. The Raptors shot 69.2 percent from long range before the break.

"I'm just going out there and doing my job. I know I need to score a little bit more and be a little more aggressive. I can do it with DeMar (DeRozan)," said Lowry. "But as a point guard, I like to get my teammates involved. Right now I need to be a little more assertive."

The Jazz shot well again in the third quarter at 52 percent, but the Raptors again shot 50 percent themselves. Utah outscored Toronto 29-28, but it could never quite get back in the game despite cutting the deficit to nine several times.

Game Notes

Utah's Alec Burks missed the game after sustaining a shoulder injury in Monday's loss to Denver ... Toronto has won four straight games against Utah ... Favors returned to Utah's lineup after missing one game with the flu ... Toronto has now won 38 straight games when leading after three quarters ... Lowry's 39 points gave him 20 or more in four straight games.