Johnson paces Indiana past Bobcats

Stephen Jackson added 17 points and eight rebounds as the Pacers won for the second time in their last three games. Fred Jones and Sarunas Jasikevicius each donated 14 points as Indiana was again without forward Jermaine O’Neal, who missed his second straight game due to a sprained ankle.

Brevin Knight netted 15 points with 15 assists for the Bobcats, who lost for the fifth time in a row. Primoz Brezec and Raymond Felton each also finished with 15 points in the loss.

Charlotte held a 52-48 edge after two quarters, but was outscored 25-13 in the third as the Pacers assumed control.

In the third, two Knight free throws with 8:37 left put the Bobcats ahead by five at 60-55, but the Pacers used a 14-2 run that stretched through most of the second half of the third to take a 69-62 lead with 1:51 remaining.

Two free throws by David Harrison and a three-pointer by Austin Croshere sparked the spurt. Croshere and Jackson each netted four points during the run as the Pacers led 73-65 after three.

Felton netted five straight points to spark a 13-2 Bobcat run that cut Charlotte’s deficit to 80-78 with 5:47 remaining in the fourth. However, a Jackson conversion from behind the arc and a dunk by Johnson later put the Pacers ahead 90-83 with 3:06 left.

The Bobcats would get no closer then five the rest of the way as Indiana clinched the home victory.

Charlotte used a late 9-0 run to hold a 29-21 edge after the first quarter and Keith Bogans’ layup extended the Bobcats to a 39-28 lead early in the second.

Indiana later began to chip away at the Charlotte lead. After a Bogans free throw made it a 44-37 game with 4:50 left in the second, the Pacers netted seven of the next nine points to pull within 46-44 with 3:34 remaining and only trailed 52-48 at the half.

Game Notes

Croshere finished with 12 points, while Harrison donated 10...Gerald Wallace had 14 points with nine rebounds for Charlotte. Bogans ended with nine points...The Pacers shot a blistering 50 percent from the floor to Charlotte’s 48.1 percent...Indiana held a large rebounding edge at 43-29...The Bobcats have lost nine of their last 10 games and fell to 4-17 on the road...The Pacers have won five of the last six matchups against Charlotte.