Raptors Hold Off Mavs At Home

The Toronto Raptors built a huge 16-point bubble after the first quarter against the Dallas Mavericks Tuesday night and held off the visiting side’s comeback attempt in the second half to notch the 103-99 victory.

DeMar DeRozan shot well from the field at 10-of-17 field goals for 28 points while Bismack Biyombo scored 9 points and grabbed a season-high 20 rebounds and added 2 blocked shots for the Raptors, which needed the win after losing three of their previous four games.

The Mavericks were led by Dirk Nowitzki’s 20 points but the German did not have much help as Dallas fell to their fourth loss in the last six games to drop to 15-13 for the season.

The Raptors still had the double-digit lead at halftime, 49-36 before Dallas came back to cut it down to five points, 75-72 in the early part of the final quarter. Toronto went on a 15-2 run in the next six minutes and created the much needed distance to cruise to the win.

Kyle Lowry had another good all-around game for the Raptors finishing with 17 points, 10 rebounds and 7 assists while Terrence Ross and Luis Scola both had good games with 16 and 15 points, respectively.

Cory Joseph added a dozen points off the bench for the Raptors, which shot 35-of-74 field goals as a team and also outrebounded the Mavericks, 53-34 including 10-4 on the offensive glass.

Dallas will visit the Brooklyn Nets, Deron Williams’ former team, on Wednesday before starting a three-game home stand against the Chicago Bulls, Milwaukee Bucks and Golden State Warriors to end their 2015.

Meanwhile, the Raptors have three games left this year, visiting the Bucks and Bulls and hosting the Washington Wizards.