
November 21, 2001	Wednesday	Ramazan 5, 1422

Nets edged out in overtime

DENVER (Colorado), Nov 20: Nick Van Exel hit two free throws with six seconds left in overtime and Jason Kidd missed a three-pointer at the buzzer as the Denver Nuggets edged the New Jersey Nets 99-96 Monday.

Van Exel finished with 30 points, the fourth time this season he has reached that figure.

Raef LaFrentz added a season-high 25 points as the Nuggets won their second game in a row and fourth in five.

Kenyon Martin scored 14 of his career-high 28 points during the fourth quarter and overtime for the Nets, who lost consecutive games for the first time this season.

Kidd had 13 assists but shot just 2-of-14 for five points. The Nets were held to just 13.3 percent (2-of-13) from three-point range.

The contest was New Jersey’s first on a season-high five-game road trip. Despite the loss, the Nets are still off to the best start in team history (7-3).

In Sacramento, Peja Stojakovic scored 25 points for the Kings who reeled off 20 straight in the fourth quarter to roll to a 113-77 rout of the Houston Rockets.

Brent Price’s three-pointer capped the 20-0 run and gave Sacramento its largest lead at 106-70 with 3:25 remaining.

Sacramento scored 14 of the game’s first 18 points and never trailed, leading 54-39 at halftime.

Doug Christie scored 23 points and Scot Pollard added 12 and 14 rebounds as Sacramento went 7-of-14 from three-point range.

Steve Francis scored 18 points to lead Houston, which shot 36 percent (26-of-73) and committed 16 turnovers.

Monday’s results (home team in CAPS):

DENVER 99 New Jersey 96 (OT)

SACRAMENTO 113 Houston 77

—Reuters