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Cavaliers Get Rare Win Over Kings 97-93

SACRAMENTO, Calif. (AP) -- Ramon Sessions scored 20 points to lead the Cleveland Cavaliers to a rare road victory, 97-93 over the Sacramento Kings on Wednesday night.

Cleveland opened the season by winning three of its first four road games, but had only a March 4 victory in New York since then.

Cleveland, which snapped a four-game losing streak overall, had dropped 28 of 29 road games since Nov. 10.

Marcus Thornton had 23 points for the Kings, who have lost seven of eight. Samuel Dalembert contributed 16 points and 10 rebounds, Francisco Garcia and Beno Udrih both scored 14 points, while rookie DeMarcus Cousins had 11 points and 16 rebounds.

J.J. Hickson scored 17 points for Cleveland, Luke Harangody had 15 and Samardo Samuels added 13.

The game was a matchup between teams with little to look forward to until the NBA draft in June. The Cavaliers have the worst record (13-53) in the Eastern Conference, while the Kings (16-50) have the worst record in the West.

Thornton hit three 3-pointers and scored nine points in the third quarter for the Kings, who trailed at one point by eight, but rallied in the final five-plus minutes to grab a 74-73 lead heading into the fourth.

After Samuels made one of two free throws to tie the game, Udrih made a reverse layup off a pass from Cousins at the 1:21 mark to put the Kings up 93-91. But two free throws from Harangody tied the game again at 93.

Following an offensive foul against Cousins, Sessions drove past three defenders and made a reverse layup to put the Cavaliers ahead 95-93 with 16 seconds to play.

Looking to tie the game, Cousins missed a driving layup and Alonzo Gee got the rebound and was promptly fouled. Gee made two free throws with 3.3 seconds left to secure the victory.

Trailing by six points at the half, the Cavaliers used a 13-3 run to assume a 65-58 lead midway through the third quarter. But a 3-pointer from Garcia and two more from Thornton quickly helped the Kings take a 67-65 lead with 4:41 left in the third.

Cousins had 11 points and eight rebounds in the opening half for the Kings, who led 51-45. Harangody scored 11 points for the sloppy Cavaliers, who committed 12 turnovers.

Notes: Tyreke Evans missed his 15th straight game with plantar fasciitis in his left foot, but was shooting and did some light running in Wednesday morning's shootaround. "Tyreke will do a little bit more tomorrow and maybe by next week he will be able to play some limited minutes," Kings coach Paul Westphal said. Cavaliers guard Baron Davis missed his third straight game due to the recent death of his grandmother. He is expected to play in Thursday night's game in Portland. Garcia made a 3-pointer from the corner at the buzzer to give the Kings a 28-18 first-quarter lead. The Cavaliers' three-game road trip will be over a mere 99 hours. It concludes with an afternoon game Saturday against the Los Angeles Clippers.

(Copyright 2011 by The Associated Press.  All Rights Reserved.)

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