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BARGNANI'S GAME-HIGH 33 POINTS LEADS RAPTORS OVER WIZARDS


Andrea Bargnani made sure the Toronto Raptors left for their five-game road trip on a winning note.

Bargnani had 33 points Friday as the Raptors defeated the Washington Wizards 116-107.

Bargnani was efficient, shooting 8-for-15 from the field with career-highs in free throws made (15) and attempted (18).

"He played extremely well," Raptors coach Jay Triano said. "He was patient, didn't panic when smaller guys guarded him, he took it down lower, faced up. You can tell from the beginning of the game when he put it on the floor he was aggressive going to the basket."

DeMar DeRozan scored 30 points and Jose Calderon added 17 for Toronto (19-49), while Reggie Evans chipped in with a game-high 15 rebounds.

Trevor Booker had 26 points and 13 rebounds for Washington (16-51), while fellow rookies Jordan Crawford and John Wall added 25 and 21 points, respectively. Wall had seven assists.

"The biggest thing was that we've had a tendency this year, when we've got behind, to really hang our heads and almost think it's not going to happen," Wizards coach Flip Saunders said. "With our young guys playing, what they've been doing is, even though we've fallen behind, they've kept on fighting."

Bargnani hit a pair of three-pointers to reach 500 for his career. He joins Vince Carter (554) and Morris Peterson (801) as the third Raptor to reach the milestone.

While Bargnani was pleased with the achievement, he was more concerned with bouncing back off of Wednesday's ugly 107-93 loss to Detroit.

"It's very important especially because of last game," Bargnani said. "We played really bad, we didn't share the ball and today it was the opposite thing. We shared the ball, we had a lot of energy and it's good to get a win."

The Raptors handed the Wizards a 13th loss in 14 games and extended their league-worst road record to 1-31. The Raptors improved to 14-22 at home.

Toronto departs for a five-game Western Conference road trip starting in Oklahoma City on Sunday.

"We are thinking about going into this long road trip with really tough teams to play so it's better always going with a win," Calderon said.

Washington started the fourth quarter on an 11-2 run to cut Toronto's lead to two points at 100-98 with less than three minutes left. But Bargnani's two free throws at 2:30 put the Raptors ahead 102-98 and subsequent successful trips to the line for Evans and Leandro Barbosa pushed the lead to 106-98 with 2:03 to go. DeRozan's jumper with 43.5 left sealed it.

The Raptors led 88-77 after the third with Bargnani scoring 11 points and DeRozan adding eight.

The Wizards made a 14-0 run in the second to take the lead 43-37 for the first time in the quarter. Toronto rallied back behind 50 per cent shooting from the field to take a 62-53 advantage going into halftime.

The Raptors led 33-27 after the first quarter, paced by 12 points from Bargnani and 10 from DeRozan.

Notes: Amir Johnson returned to the Raptors starting line up after missing three games with a sprained ankle. The Raptors were without Linas Kleiza (right knee surgery) and Julian Wright (inactive). ... The Wizards missed starters Andray Blatche (strained right shoulder), Nick Young (bruised left knee), as well as Josh Howard, (left knee tendinitis), Rashard Lewis, (sore right knee) and Cartier Martin (right patella tendinitis). Actor Samuel L. Jackson attended the game.