Jamison, Wizards top Kings

SACRAMENTO, Calif.(AP) Antawn Jamison and Caron Butler helped the Washington Wizards pick up a rare road victory.Jamison
had 33 points and nine rebounds and Butler scored 30 for the Wizards,
who held off the Sacramento Kings for a 110-107 win on Wednesday night.Andray
Blatche added 20 points for Washington. The Wizards had lost seven of
their eight previous games and are 3-17 on the road.The Wizards,
who have struggled with injuries and have nine wins on the season, are
hoping for a fresh start for the second half of the season."This
is our team, there is no help coming,'' Butler said. "We have a lot of
young guys playing right now and I'm getting more and more of a feeling
of what they like to do out there.''The Wizards entered the game as one of the NBA's lowest-scoring teams while the Kings are second in points allowed."It's
been a grind, losing is not fun. People talk bad about you and you know
you're better than the way you are performing and producing,'' said
John Salmons, who had 24 points for the Kings, who have one more win
than Washington.After hearing boos in the third quarter and entering the fourth down by 19 points, the Kings showed some life.Point
guard Beno Udrih led the way, finding holes in the defense on drives to
the basket and hitting outside shots. Udrih's 3-pointer with 43 seconds
left cut the lead to 104-102.A 3-pointer by Francisco Garcia reduced the Wizards' lead to 108-107 with 3.9 seconds remaining.The
Kings immediately fouled Blatche, who responded with two free throws
and put the Wizards ahead by three points with 3.4 seconds left. Garcia
missed a corner 3-pointer with a second left that could have sent the
game into overtime."They got it going and started making 3-point
shots, which gave them lots of momentum,'' Washington coach Ed Tascott
said. "We were barely able to hold them off. Wins on the road don't
have to be elegant, they don't have to be stylish, they just have to be
wins.''Udrih had 16 of his 24 points in the fourth quarter when
the Kings outscored the Wizards 37-21. Sacramento made 12 of 25
3-pointers, hitting six to fuel its fourth-quarter comeback.Kevin Martin added 22 points and Garcia had 14 for the Kings, who have dropped three straight and four of five."Our
mindset is that we come into the arena and we get the win,'' Udrih
said. "We can't think like that, we are not in that position. We've got
to come out and play hard.''Having failed to score 100 or more
points in 11 of the past 12 games, the Wizards went over the 100-point
mark on a Darius Songaila basket with 5:04 left in the game.After
a strong first half, Butler was difficult to stop in the third quarter.
He and Jamison both scored 13 points as the lead reached a high of 21
points and Washington took an 89-70 lead into the fourth period.The
Kings have lost seven straight to the Wizards over the past four years
and are 0-16 against the Eastern Conference this season."We knew they hadn't beaten an Eastern Conference team and we didn't want to let it be us,'' Butler said.Averaging
29 points in the previous nine games, Martin had a poor first half,
missing 5-of-6 shots, scoring four points. Martin got untracked in the
third quarter when he made four 3-pointers and scored 16 points, yet
the Kings were still outscored 35-26.Butler scored 15 points and
both Jamison and Blatche had 12, helping the Wizards maintain control
throughout much of the first half. Salmons scored 10 points for the
Kings, who trailed 54-44 at intermission.