Collin Sexton scored 36 points, Jarrett Allen added 17 points and 15 rebounds, and the Cleveland Cavaliers held on to defeat the visiting Toronto Raptors 116-105 on Sunday night.
It was the eighth loss in a row for the Raptors. They had not lost eight straight since Jan. 10-22, 2012.
Dean Wade had 16 points for the Cavaliers, Darius Garland added 15 points and Larry Nance Jr. had 10 points.
Fred VanVleet scored 23 points for the Raptors, Kyle Lowry and Norman Powell each scored 18 points and OG Anunoby had 17.
The Cavaliers led by two points at halftime but used a 32-18 third quarter to take a 16-point into the fourth quarter.
The Cavaliers opened the fourth quarter with 3-pointers by Wade and Sexton to lead by 22 points.
The Raptors responded with a 13-0 run. Then, Stanley Johnson’s steal and layup cut the lead to six with 6:02 to play.
Sexton’s 3-pointer got the lead back to 11 but the lead was reduced to seven on VanVleet’s 3-pointer with 2:39 left. The Cavaliers went up by 10 but VanVleet’s 3-pointer cut the lead to five with 59.4 seconds to go.
Nance made a dunk, Wade made two free throws and Cleveland led by nine with 32.3 seconds remaining.
The Raptors led 28-23 after the first quarter. The Cavaliers scored the first five points of the second quarter and took a four-point lead on Allen’s two free throws with 6:34 to play. Sexton made one of two free throws to complete the first-half scoring with Cleveland leading 59-57.
Sexton and Powell were engaged in an argument briefly at the end of the first half. Each was assessed a technical foul.
The Cavaliers scored the first 12 points of the third quarter to lead by 14. The Raptors cut the lead to 10 but Cleveland pulled out by 17 points on Isaac Okoro’s layup with 3:19 to play in the third quarter. Cleveland led 91-75 after three quarters.
The Raptors had won all three games last season between the teams. This was their first meeting of the season.
–Field Level Media