Raptors Fall To Bucks

Rookie Brandon Jennings scored 22 points, lifting the slumping Milwaukee Bucks to a 117-95 victory over the Toronto Raptors on Wednesday night.

Milwaukee, losers of eight of 10, snapped a four-game skid by controlling this game from the start. The Bucks scored over 100 points for just the second time in the 10-game stretch to end Toronto’s three-game winning streak.

Milwaukee’s only real scare came when the 20-year-old Jennings crumpled to the floor in the closing seconds of the third quarter after he hurt his left knee in a collision driving to the basket.

Chris Bosh had 26 points and 10 rebounds for Toronto to extend his strong string of performances, but he had little help because Andrea Bargnani (sore right ankle) and Jose Calderon (hip) were out and Hedo Turkoglu was ineffective.

Ersan Ilyasova and Roko Ukic had 17 points each, Luc Richard Mbah a Moute had 16, Luke Ridnour 15, Carlos Delfino 14 and Andrew Bogut 12 for the Bucks.

The Raptors had another miserable defensive effort.

Milwaukee shot 52.5 per cent from the field and 9 of 21 from beyond the arc. Toronto, which came in allowing 108.3 points per game, fell to 0-7 when allowing opponents to shoot 50 per cent or better.

The Bucks finished a stretch of 15 games in 26 days without consecutive days off and controlled this one from the start, extending the lead to 20 early in the second half before the Raptors made it 81-69 heading into the fourth.

Jennings benefited the most from Toronto’s lack of focus on defence. After shooting 32.5 per cent in his previous nine games, he went 8 of 14 from the field and added six assists.

He was sharp from the start, too, hitting five straight in one stretch and finishing with 14 points in the first quarter to give Milwaukee a seven-point lead that grew to 57-45 at halftime.

Jennings sat out half the fourth quarter while the training staff checked his knee and the staff worked on him again about four minutes later after he exited for good.