O’Neal helps Pacers end two-game skid

Indianapolis, IN (Basketball News) - Jermaine O’Neal poured in 29 points and grabbed 18 rebounds, as the Indiana Pacers defeated the Charlotte Bobcats, 93-85, in the second game of a home-and-home set at Conseco Fieldhouse.

These teams also met on Wednesday in Charlotte, with the Bobcats winning convincingly, 122-90.

Austin Croshere had 15 points and 11 boards while Sarunas Jasikevicius contributed 14 points, which included going 10-of-10 from the foul line, for the Pacers, who put an end to a two-game losing streak.

Jamaal Tinsley had 12 points and 11 assists while Stephen Jackson also netted 12 points in the win.

Kareem Rush scored 20 points for Charlotte, which has dropped six of its past seven contests. Emeka Okafor posted 14 points and 10 rebounds while rookie Sean May also netted 14 in the setback.

Indiana led by three after 36 minutes of action and came out on fire to begin the fourth, as it started the final period with a 9-0 run to open the game up. Croshere capped the critical surge with a pair of free throws to make it 79-67 with 7:24 left in the game and the gap grew to 13 points moments later.

The Bobcats did not help matters any as they started the period with 11 straight misses from the field before finally hitting a shot with 5:26 to go. In fact, Charlotte missed 13 consecutive shots dating back to the third.

Rush kept his team in the game, though, as his three-pointer with 3:37 left trimmed the gap to 83-78 and capped a quick 7-0 run.

Raymond Felton then drilled a shot from behind the arc with just under two minutes to go to make it a four-point game, but the Bobcats could not get any closer down the stretch.

Indiana jumped out to a nine-point lead and extended the cushion to 26-15 on Croshere’s breakaway dunk with 3:25 left in the first quarter. However Charlotte trimmed the deficit to 28-21 after one.

O’Neal had 15 points in the opening period.

In the second, the Bobcats continued their comeback as they began the frame with a 21-9 surge, keyed by nine from Matt Carroll, to seize a 42-37 lead. Indiana, though, went into the half tied at 48-48 courtesy of Jackson’s three- pointer in the waning seconds.

O’Neal scored 19 points for the Pacers, who shot a blistering 58 percent from the field in the first half. Rush had 10 for Charlotte, which connected on 43 percent of its attempts in the opening 24 minutes.

Indiana led 70-67 after three quarters.

Game Notes

The Pacers made 34-of-44 free throws, including a blistering 23-of-28 in the second half. O’Neal was 11-of-12 from the charity stripe. The Bobcats were just 10-of-14 from the line...Charlotte is 1-4 on the road this season...This game marked the one-year anniversary of the brawl that took place between Indiana and Detroit at the Palace.