When the Magic lost to the Raptors by one point on the road Dec. 29, Orlando squandered a 21-point first-half lead.
On Friday night inside Kia Center, however, it was Toronto that gave up a 14-point lead on the road playing in front of a national TV audience on ESPN.
During a contest that featured 12 lead changes, Jamahl Mosley‘s squad fought back-and-forth with the Raptors before it used a huge fourth quarter to capture a 130-120 victory thanks to a combined 100 points from Desmond Bane (32), Anthony Black (25), Wendell Carter Jr. (23) and Paolo Banchero (20).
The game was tied at 80 before the Raptors ended the third quarter on a 19-6 run in the final 3:36 of the frame. Orlando then punched back with a 21-5 run to open the first six minutes of the fourth quarter. The Magic won the final 12 minutes 44-21.
“We executed down the stretch,” Mosley said after the 10-point win. “That fourth quarter was very special for our guys.”
Behind 35 points from Brandon Ingram, Toronto (29-21) was able finish with a 56-42 advantage in the paint, but Orlando’s win snapped a four-game losing streak against the Canadian team that reached back to last season.
The Magic (25-22) head back on the road when they make their lone trip of the season to San Antonio on Sunday and Oklahoma City two days later.
Starting 5
All five members of Orlando’s starting lineup — Carter, Banchero, Bane, Black and Jalen Suggs — finished with 14-plus points.
Bane, who picked up his second Flagrant 1 foul of the season early in the second quarter when he fouled Immanuel Quickley, hit his first pair of 3-pointers. His fifth triple of the night gave the Magic a three-point lead with six minutes left in the game and he made seven total from beyond the arc.
Carter also drilled two 3-pointers and did a little bit of everything while racking up seven rebounds, three assists and a steal.
Banchero, who had scored 30-plus in two straight games, started 1 for 5 from the floor but found his footing by attacking the paint and getting to the free throw line, where he shot 9 for 11. He approached a triple-double with 9 rebounds and six assists.
Suggs was electric on both ends of the floor, distributing 10 assists and recording three steals in 33 minutes.
Orlando’s starting lineup scored 114 of the team’s total 130 points.
“They were just finding each other, finding the right things,” Mosley said about the first five on the floor. “If you noticed in moments, one time it was AB, one time it was Jalen, one time it was Paolo, one time it was Des, and then the unsung hero to me in this was Wendell Carter Jr.
“He didn’t say a word, guarded how he needed to guard, rebounded when he needed to rebound, and then he got rewarded being underneath the basket,” Mosley added. “He just did his job.”
Fastbreak scoring
The Raptors entered the game averaging a league-leading 19.2 fastbreak points per night, according to NBA.com, and that didn’t change against the Magic, who had allowed 16 fastbreak points per contest (which ranked 21st league-wide).
Toronto posted 18 fastbreak points in the first half alone when it got out in transition regardless of Orlando putting the ball through the basket. And when the Magic would miss, they failed to get back to set their half-court defense in time.
By the end of the night, the Raptors finished with a 25-15 edge on the fastbreak.
“They were just getting out and running,” Carter said about the Raptors. “We were crashing and then we weren’t getting back. Coming into the huddle, we talked about, we figured it out, and then they we limited them to six transition points after that.
“We did a really good job of locking in on what they were doing offensively that was hurting us,” the Magic center added.
Free points
The Magic, who entered the night averaging a league-high 27.2 free throw attempts per game according to NBA.com, made their first eight free throws of the night.
Orlando didn’t slow down from there either when Black shot 14 for 14 and both Carter and Bane made three.
While the Magic shot 33 for 37 at the line (89.2%), the Raptors went 25 for 32 (78.1%). Toronto missed seven free throws in a 10-point loss.
Rookie watch
Second-round pick Noah Penda entered late in the first quarter, grabbed three rebounds and recorded a block. But he only played six minutes, missing a pair of shots.
First-round pick Jase Richardson didn’t see the floor.
Jason Beede can be reached at jbeede@orlandosentinel.com