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Hornets sting Raptors with long-range barrage

Feb 7, 2009 - 5:25 AM NEW ORLEANS (Ticker) -- The New Orleans Hornets were dialed in from long range and the Toronto Raptors were helpless to stop it.

Sparked by a 17-0 run in the fourth quarter, the Hornets posted a 101-92 victory over the Raptors on Friday night.

The Hornets rained 15 3-pointers down on the Raptors, including seven by Peja Stojakovic, who scored 28 points.

""We just had much more trust in our offense than in the last game and being where we're supposed to be," New Orleans coach Byron Scott said. "(David) West did a great job of finding guys. We did a heck of a job keeping our spacing, and when we had shots we knocked them down."

Jermaine O'Neal scored 24 points for Toronto, which was outscored, 37-23, in the fourth quarter.

Stojakovic tied his season high in scoring and helped New Orleans match a franchise record for 3-pointers in a game.

"When you move the ball you're able to get good looks," Stojakovic said. "C.P. (Chris Paul) is out. We've got to have better ball movement, and that's what we did particularly well in the fourth quarter."

David West, Rasual Butler and James Posey each scored 17 points for New Orleans, which snapped a four-game losing skid.

The Hornets were without All-Star guard Chris Paul for the second straight game and the Raptors were without the services of forward Chris Bosh, who missed the game after spraining his knee against the Los Angeles Lakers on Wednesday.

New Orleans seemed to be missing Paul more than Toronto did Bosh as the Raptors were in front by as many as 11 in the second half.

Toronto was still up 83-75 with 6:52 to play after a jumper by O'Neal, but then New Orleans found its range from the arc.

Devin Brown scored on a layup to spark the 17-0, which was highlighted by the Hornets' long-range shooting. The Hornets closed the run with five straight 3-pointers, including two by Posey and Butler.

"I don't remember the last time we lost four in a row," Butler said. "We know nobody's going to feel sorry for us. We felt like our backs were up against the wall, but we said we were going to ball up and take our beating and come off the wall fighting."

Stojakovic capped the spurt with a three and Andrea Bargnani then answered with a three to cut the Hornets' lead to 92-86 with 2:40 to go, but the Raptors never mounted a final push.

"Some guys got stuck inside," Toronto Coach Jay Triano said. "We chased them out and tried to

challenge them, but we were a little bit late getting there every time."

Bargnani scored 19 points, Jose Calderon added 16 and Anthony Parker netted 12 for Toronto, which has lost five straight.

"We fought to get back in the game. In the second and third quarter I thought we were playing really good basketball," Calderon said. "In the last five minutes, it wasn't like it was wide open threes. They just made the threes."