Jose Calderon had 21 points as the Raptors rode a big first half to a 123-112 win over the the Indiana Pacers last evening. Calderon shot 8 for 11 from the field and added seven assists for the 7-8 Raptors , who put up 74 first-half points before holding off a second-half charge from the 5-7 Pacers. Raptors 123, Pacers 112
Jarrett Jack, who spent last season with Indiana, added 18 points off the bench while Chris Bosh chipped in with 16 points, 12 rebounds and four blocks.
Hedo Turkoglu and Andrea Bargnani added 14 apiece in the victory, which came in front of 17,136 at the Air Canada Centre.
Danny Granger led the Pacers with 36 points, while former Raptors guard T.J. Ford added 16.
The Raptors led by 21 at the half, but the Pacers cut the lead to 100-92 after outscoring Toronto 39-26 in the third quarter.
The Pacers moved within seven points on Troy Murphy's trey with 6:52 remaining, but the Raptors answered with a game-clinching 10-3 run capped by a Bosh dunk on an assist from Turkoglu, his seventh of the game.
There wasn't much defence in the first quarter, and it ended with the Raptors leading 39-31 on the strength of 10 points from Calderon.
The Raptors continued piling up the points in the second quarter while doing a better job defensively, stretching the lead to 13 by the midway point of the quarter. Calderon had 15 points and Turkoglu 11 as Toronto led 74-53 at the half.
The total was a season high for the Raptors , who shot 63.4 per cent from the field in the opening 24 minutes.
NOTES: The Raptors fell short of their franchise record for points in a first half (79), set in 1997 against the New Jersey Nets ... The Raptors are on the road for their next two games, tonight in Charlotte and Friday in Boston before returning home to play Phoenix on Sunday. That will end a stretch of 18 games in 34 days for Toronto ... Antoine Wright (ankle) and Marco Belinelli (groin) returned after missing Sunday's loss to Orlando.
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