Rudy Gay leads Toronto in dominant fourth quarter as Raptors top Wizards 96-88

TORONTO – Rudy Gay had 11 points in the final 12 minutes of play as the Toronto Raptors used a dominant fourth quarter to defeat the Washington Wizards 96-88 on Friday to remain in first place in the Atlantic Division.

Gay was a woeful three-for-13 shooting through three quarters, but finished with 17 points for Toronto (6-7), which trailed 70-66 going into the final quarter.

DeMar DeRozan also had 17 points. Amir Johnson chipped in 14 and Jonas Valanciunas had 11 points and 13 rebounds as the Raptors won their second straight.

Toronto returned to Air Canada Centre to open a four-game home-stand — its longest homestand of the season — leading the division for the first time since they won it in 2007.

The Raptors scored the first nine points of the fourth quarter to wrest the lead back from Washington. The Raptors outscored the Wizards 21-9 over the opening 7:34 of the final period.

Point guard John Wall led all scorers with 37 points for Washington (4-8). The Wizards outscored Toronto 32-15 in the third quarter, turning a 13-point halftime deficit into a 70-64 lead going into the final quarter.

Wall paced the visitors in the third, scoring 18 points. Toronto, meanwhile, was ice cold in the quarter, shooting just four-for-18 from the field.

The Raptors had taken a 51-38 lead into halftime on the strength of a dominating performance down low.

Johnson sunk his first six field goal attempts of the night, all within about five feet of the basket, as the Raptors had a 30-12 edge over the Wizards on points in the paint in the opening half.

DeRozan led all scorers in the first half with 15 points on six-for-nine from the field.

The Raptors led by as many as 16 points in the opening half. They shot at a torrid pace in the first quarter — 67 per cent — before cooling off in the second, going eight-for-22, or 36 per cent.

Despite the poorer shooting performance in the second quarter, the Raptors widened their lead. That was in large measure due to a woeful 4-for-21, or 19 per cent clip, shot by the Wizards in the quarter.

Toronto led 32-27 after the first quarter as Johnson and DeRozan combined for 21 points.