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TORONTO -- Dwane Casey saw it as a sign of maturity on the part of his young team. After a first half in which he thought "the lid was on the basket," the Toronto Raptors coach watched his squad mount a second half surge to defeat the Cleveland Cavaliers 98-91. "Thats another step in our growth," Casey said after Friday nights win at Air Canada Centre. "Last year at this time, if wed have missed shots like that wed have caved in. "But we kept grinding it, grinding it, grinding it and thats what you have to do when the shots arent falling." The Raptors (30-25) shot a woeful 32.7 per cent from the field in the first half and trailed 44-39. But, with second-year centre Jonas Valanciunas leading the way, Toronto shot an impressive 16-for 23, or 69.5 per cent, in the third quarter on the way to winning their fourth game in five starts. "We said we need to pick it up, we need to come out with energy," Valanciunas, who finished with 18 points and eight rebounds, said of the talk in the locker room at halftime. "Thats what it was all about. "We shot really bad the first half but we did a better job the second half and thats what matters." Valanciunas scored 10 of his 14 second-half points in the third quarter, including five in a row during a 4:07 stretch that saw the Raptors turn a one-point deficit into a 10-point lead. Second-year guard Terrence Ross had a team-high 20 points as the Raptors snapped the Cavaliers (22-34) six-game winning streak and widened their lead to 3-1/2 games over the idle Brooklyn Nets atop the NBAs Atlantic Division. With the win, the Raptors equalled the third-fastest time theyve reached the 30-win mark in team history, just one game off the best mark of 54 games in both the 2009-10 and 2007-08 seasons. The Raptors, who have missed the playoffs in each of the past five seasons, didnt win their 30th game until their 78th outing last year. Although Ross led the Raptors in scoring, it was his defensive play against Cleveland guard Kyrie Irving, who was named MVP of last weekends NBA All-Star Game, that drew rave reviews from his teammates. "Defensively, hes always been impressive, and hes getting better," Toronto guard Kyle Lowry said after Irving was held to 3-for-16 shooting on his way to 17 points. "I told him that on the bench tonight." Lowry had 14 points, nine assists and six rebounds. DeMar DeRozan added 14 points and five assists. Clevelands Luol Deng led all scorers with 21 points and added 11 rebounds while Tristan Thompson of Brampton, Ont., added 13 points and nine assists and Anthony Bennett, also from Brampton, who last spring became the first Canadian to ever go first overall in the NBA draft, had nine points in his first game here. "We just had to pick up our defensive intensity," Ross said of the message delivered at halftime. "The biggest thing, we were coming out, playing too lackadaisical and we had to pick that up." Toronto outscored Cleveland 37-21 in the third quarter to take control. Valanciunas made a layup with 7:22 to go in the quarter to put the Raptors up for good at 53-52. After Valanciunas and Amir Johnson combined for just four points in the first half, Casey said he gave the big men "a wake-up call" going into the second half and they responded at both ends of the court. "We reminded them theres more to the game than the offensive end," Casey said. "You can get rebounds. You can get back in transition. You can challenge shots and you can go vertical. "You can do a lot of different things other than make shots and I thought the second half (they) worked at it and got it done." Kevin Mchale Jersey . An unconventional night for Texas-El Paso nearly led to the Miners getting a huge upset. Down by 14 with 2:21 left, the Miners went on a frantic closing spurt that fell just short, and UTEP was beaten by No. Bob Cousy Jersey . The whole deflation of New England Patriots footballs is like a murder mystery without the violence or significance. On one side, this is a ridiculous issue. http://www.authenticcelticsproshop.com/ ... ersey/.com) - St. Louis Blues right wing Vladimir Tarasenko, Detroit Red Wings center Pavel Datsyuk and Pittsburgh Penguins goaltender Marc-Andre Fleury have been selected as the NHLs top players for last week. Marcus Smart Jersey . PETERSBURG, Fla. Kyrie Irving Jersey . -- What Anthony Jennings lacked in experience, LSU more than compensated for with a talented supporting cast in the Outback Bowl.Sweden and Canada became the first mens teams to qualify for the Olympic curling semifinals on Sunday, and Britain missed the chance to join them by losing to Norway. Canada (6-2) stole a point at the last end to secure an 8-6 win over the U.S., which now cannot qualify. The Canadians didnt know they had qualified when they came off the ice after a tense win over the U.S. team, but they soon were celebrating. Even if the Canadians lose their last game — to China in the evening session — the worst they could finish is tied at 6-3 with Norway and Britain. They would qualify on a superior head-to-head record, the Canadian Curling Association confirmed. "We played all right, definitely not our best, but its still good to get the win knowing that we didnt put our best performance together," Canada skip Brad Jacobs said. The game came down to the final shot, delivered by U.S. skip John Shuster. His draw settled around the button next to a Canadian stone, which was clooser by barely half an inch.dddddddddddd "Sometimes you are on the right side and sometimes on the wrong side," Shuster said. "It just sucks that weve been on the wrong side at the Olympics." Playing in front of their king, Carl XVI Gustaf, the Swedes beat Russia 8-4 in nine ends to move into the outright lead at 7-1. They are the reigning world champions. Norway (4-3) staved off elimination with a 7-6 win over Britain (5-3), ensuring there will be plenty to play for going into the final day of round-robin action Monday. "It was one of the most important games of our career," said Haavard Vad Petersson, who was part of the Norway team that won an Olympic silver medal in 2010. "We had to win this one to stay alive. "We have won a medal before but we want to get gold." The Americans are 2-5. Norways final two games are against Switzerland and Denmark, both of which are out of contention. Britains last game is against China. Cheap NFL Jerseys Wholesale Jerseys Wholesale NFL Jerseys Jerseys From China Wholesale NFL Jerseys Cheap NFL Jerseys Cheap Jerseys ' ' '