Rookie Will Riley scored a season-high 18 points as the Washington Wizards defeated the visiting Sacramento Kings 116-112 on Sunday.
Riley, who hit 4 of 8 from 3-point range, and AJ Johnson, who added 17 points, led a sterling performance from Washington’s bench which outscored Sacramento’s 61-20.
Fellow reserves Skal Labissiere and Sharife Cooper also came up with big plays down the stretch.
Zach LaVine scored 35 points and DeMar DeRozan posted 32 — including 24 in the second half — for the Kings, who suffered their ninth straight defeat.
Riley’s fourth 3-pointer with 2:07 remaining put Washington in front 111-109, before Labissiere’s hook shot made it 113-110.
The 6-foot Cooper, who had seven boards, soared for a huge offensive rebound and putback off Johnson’s missed three to stretch the WIzards’ cushion to 115-110.
LaVine’s baseline dunk trimmed the gap to 115-112 with 30 seconds on the clock.
After Sacramento’s Isaiah Stevens made a steal with 12 seconds left, LaVine missed a three to tie with 7.3 seconds left and the diminutive Cooper was fouled after soaring for another rebound. He made one of two foul shots with 3.5 ticks remaining for the final margin.
The Kings connected on their first three shots to lead 7-2 before hitting just one — a Precious Achiuwa putback dunk with 8:50 on the clock — of their next 19 for the rest of the quarter. The Wizards led 23-14 after 12 minutes.
LaVine, who had just four points on 1-of-5 shooting in the opening frame, poured in 18 second-quarter points to lead Sacramento’s recovery.
LaVine caught fire, going 7 of 9 from the floor and 4 of 4 from deep for the period, including a jab-step three in the dying stages to trim Washington’s cushion to 53-48 at halftime.
The Kings closed to 79-77 on a 13-3 third-quarter run, before the Wizards eased the margin back out to 88-82 on Maxime Raynaud’s last-second tip-in with a quarter to play.
Devin Carter’s fast-break slam squared the score at 95, before teammate DeRozan’s dunk with 8:37 on the clock capped an 8-0 run and gave Sacramento a 97-95 edge.
DeRozan had 15 of the Kings’ first 19 points in the fourth, the first 13 scored while LaVine was resting on the bench, as the Kings edged ahead by four before being reeled in.
