TORONTO – DeMar DeRozan poured in 25 points to lift Toronto to a 105-100 victory over the Orlando Magic on Sunday, the Raptors’ seventh consecutive victory at the Air Canada Centre.
Luis Scola added 20 points, while Kyle Lowry added 18 points. Bismack Biyombo grabbed a game-high 11 rebounds to go with 12 points and six blocks, and Terrence Ross chipped in with 13 points for Toronto (48-21).
Victor Oladipo led the Magic (29-40) with 21 points. Andrew Nicholson of Mississauga, Ont., added 15 points and nine rebounds.
The Raptors, who began the night a game-and-a-half behind Cleveland for first in the Eastern Conference, were eager to finish out this home-heavy stretch with a victory. They’ve had tremendous success at the ACC, going 16-2 at home in the 18 games prior to Sunday. They now hit the road where they’ll play all but five of their remaining regular-season games.
The Raptors roared out to an early 11-point lead, and looked poised for a relatively easy victory against the slumping Magic, who are four spots out of the last playoff position in the East. But Orlando had other ideas, and led by five points early in the fourth quarter.
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The Raptors poured it on late, and a Lowry basket capped an 11-2 run that put Toronto up with four with 5:22 to play. Evan Fournier drilled a three-pointer to cut the Raptors’ lead to a point with 1:11 left, but DeRozan drew a foul on a basket, and the three points put the Raptors back up by four. Brandon Jennings scored with 34 seconds left, but that’s as close as the visitors would come.
The Raptors were missing Cory Joseph, who was given the game off to rest, and Patrick Patterson (ankle). Joseph had already topped his career-high in minutes this season by 308. Jonas Valanciunas and James Johnson, who have both been battling injuries, were active, but didn’t play.
The Raptors were up 30-25 to start the second quarter.
The Magic clawed back and a pair of back-to-back buckets from Oladipo gave Orlando their first lead of the game 3:38 before halftime. Orlando went into the break up 55-53.
Orlando continued to pace Toronto through the third, and took an 82-80 advantage into the fourth.
The Raptors had split their two previous games this season. The Magic beat Toronto for the first time since 2012, with a 92-87 victory back in the first week of the season. The Raptors responded with a 106-103 overtime win in London in January.
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