Stojakovic, Jackson push Pacers past Raptors

Jermaine O’Neal added 18 points, nine rebounds and five blocks for the Pacers, who snapped a damaging five-game losing streak.

Currently in seventh place in the Eastern Conference, the Pacers pulled to within 1/2 game of Milwaukee for the sixth spot after the Bucks lost to Orlando on Wednesday.

Mike James led all scorers with 34 points while also grabbing 11 rebounds with eight assists for the Raptors, who have lost their last six games. Matt Bonner added 14 points and Charlie Villanueva donated 14 points and 11 boards in the loss.

Indiana led by as many as 15 in the contest, but four straight points from James early in the fourth pulled Toronto to within 92-90. The Raptors then later cut it to 95-94 with 7:10 left after a Bonner jumper.

The Pacers, though, answered with a 9-2 burst, capped with a three-pointer by Anthony Johnson with 4:40 left to extend to a 104-96 lead.

The Pacers then turned up the intensity on the defensive end and hit their free throws down the stretch to snap a small two-game losing streak to the Raptors, who never led in the contest.

Johnson added 16 points for Indiana, which led by 29-21 at the end of the first before the Raptors got to within three at 41-38, after a three-pointer by James with 5:37 left in the second. Stojakovic, though, came right back with a trey of his own and the Pacers built their lead back up to 10 at 48-38.

Toronto netted the last six points of the frame however, and trailed by just four, 54-50, at halftime. Stojakovic had 15 points at the break and James led Toronto with 18.

The Pacers netted the first seven points of the third frame to take a 61-50 lead with 9:48 to go in the quarter and later extended their lead to 15 after a Jackson layup made it a 75-60 game with just under five minutes left in the third.

The Raptors, though, responded with a 9-1 run to make it a 76-69 contest and Toronto trailed by just 86-81 heading into the fourth.

Game Notes

Toronto shot 40.9 percent from the floor while Indiana shot 40.2 percent...The Pacers reached the free throw line 45 times in the game, making 36 of their free shots. Toronto, in comparison, finished just 18-of-22 from the charity stripe...Indiana blocked 10 shots as a team.