Kings end 10-game skid vs. Mavs with 110-97 win

[March 10, 2012]  SACRAMENTO, Calif. (AP) -- Tyreke Evans and Marcus Thornton each scored 17 points to help the Sacramento Kings end a 10-game losing streak against the Dallas Mavericks with a 110-97 victory on Friday night.

Rookie Isaiah Thomas added 14 points, including three 3-pointers in the third quarter, for the Kings, who last beat Dallas on Jan. 11, 1999. The worst of those losses came in the first meeting earlier this season when the defending champion Mavericks won 99-60 in Dallas.

Jason Terry scored 23 points to lead the Mavericks, who have lost six straight road games for the first time since November 1999. Dallas has lost seven of nine games overall to fall into seventh place in the Western Conference.

With victories over New Orleans and Dallas, the Kings are off to a strong start to a nine-game homestand that is the longest in franchise history. The homestand started a night after the City Council approved a plan to help finance an estimated $391 million arena to keep the Kings in town for at least another 30 years.

That has given Kings fans something to cheer about for a change for a last-place team that has missed the playoffs for the past five seasons.

DeMarcus Cousins added 15 points in his return from food poisoning and the Kings had seven players reach double-figures in the win.

Sacramento took the lead early and then started to pull away in the third quarter against a Dallas team that had lost the previous night in Phoenix. Thomas hit a pair of 3-pointers around a pretty drive from Evans to extend the lead to 78-61 midway through the third. Sacramento led by 16 after three quarters and coasted to the victory.

Francisco Garcia's 3-pointer midway through the fourth extended the lead to 102-82 and allowed the Kings to become the second team to reach the century mark against Dallas in the past 21 games.

The Kings started off much better in their second meeting against the Mavericks than they did in Dallas on Jan. 14, when they were held to a franchise-low 23 points in the first half of the stingiest defensive game in Dallas history. The Kings went 22 for 86 from the field (25.6 percent) in that game.

The Kings got out on the break early and matched their first-half scoring total from January in just over 6 minutes as Evans' two free throws gave Sacramento a 23-10 lead with 5:54 left in the quarter.

The Kings led by nine after one and were up 54-44 at the half after Marcus Thornton's runner in the lane with 3.8 seconds left. They topped their total from January with 9:44 left in the third when Cousins made two free throws to make it 61-51.

NOTES: Donte Greene got his third start of the season for the Kings to match up with Dirk Nowitzki and scored 11 points. Nowitzki finished with 13 on 5-for-13 shooting. ... The Mavericks wrap up a stretch of three games in three nights on Saturday at Golden State. ... Sacramento F J.J. Hickson missed the game with a hip pointer and Dallas C Brendan Haywood sat out with a sprained left ankle. ... Grammy Award winner Drake was at the game.

[Associated Press; By JOSH DUBOW]

Copyright 2012 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.