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A trip north of the border was cold enough to halt Charlotte’s hot streak.

The Bobcats two-game winning streak was snapped by the Raptors, who completed their first-ever three-game season sweep over Charlotte and in the meantime clinched its first playoff spot in five seasons with a decisive 107-94 victory on Sunday in front of 19,023 fans at the Air Canada Centre.

Charlotte was paced by forward Walter Herrmann, who continued his late-season emergence with a team-high 22 points. The 27-year-old rookie got his fourth straight start and shot 9-13 from the field during a team-high 38 minutes. After only playing in 34 of the team’s first 64 games, he’s scored double-figures in nine of the past 10 games and was a point shy of his career-mark, which he set during Friday’s victory over Milwaukee.

Bobcats forward/center Emeka Okafor netted 16 points, his highest scoring total in five weeks, on 8-13 shooting and added seven rebounds in his third game back since returning from a strained calf.

Gerald Wallace, Charlotte’s leading scorer, was plagued with foul trouble throughout the second half, but still managed 13 points, six rebounds and three assists during 34 minutes.

Rookie Adam Morrison, who is Charlotte’s only player to participate all 74 games this season, added 10 points on 4-7 shooting in 26 minutes.

However, the rest of the Bobcats (28-46) struggled again at the Air Canada Centre, an arena where Charlotte has dropped four of five all-time. The Bobcats have lost nine of their last 10 road games.

Okafor’s 16-foot jumper pierced the Raptors lead to 61-54 with 7:31 left in the third quarter, but the Bobcats failed to claw any closer the rest of the way. Charlotte cut the margin to eight on three more occasions in the third, but went into the fourth quarter trailing 80-71.

Toronto fast-paced guards took advantage of pick-and-pops, igniting a 17-9 spurt during a six-minute span to begin fourth quarter. The Raptors poured it on when Charlotte rested its starters and led by as many 18 in the waning minutes.

The Bobcats had little firepower for the playoff bound Raptors, who posted six double-figure scorers, including a game-high 24 points by forward Chris Bosh. The All-Star notched his fourth straight double-double, scoring a 22 of his 24 points in the first half to complement his game-high 16 rebounds.

“We tried to change defenses to comeback, but they were already on their roll,” said Bobcats guard Brevin Knight. “We made a couple of runs at it, but they just did a good job of holding us off and finishing off the game.”

Raptors point guards T.J. Ford and Jose Calderon combined for 25 points and 13 assists while Juan Dixon added 15 points and journeyman Anthony Parker contributed 14. Kris Humphries notched 13 points and eight rebounds.

"It is hard playing catch up all game, they had a couple of runs, a couple spurts and we never could quite get over that hump."
-- Emeka Okafor

Toronto, who shot 26-29 from the free throw line, outscored Charlotte’s reserves 48-31 and outrebounded the Bobcats 48-34.

“I thought (the Raptors) executed well and had shots,” said Charlotte General Manger & Head Coach Bernie Bickerstaff. “But we really, really got hurt on the offensive boards. We didn’t rebound the basketball.”

The Raptors (41-32) extended their lead to 13 twice early in the second quarter, but Charlotte sliced the deficit to five behind Matt Carroll’s trey with just under four minutes left. Toronto stiffened, scoring on four of its last five possessions to grab a 52-45 halftime advantage.

Charlotte misfired on its first six shots of the game and allowed Toronto to leap out to an early 14-4 lead. The Raptors never trailed.

“It is hard playing catch up all game, they had a couple of runs, a couple spurts and we never could quite get over that hump and it kind of got away from us at the end,” Okafor said.

At the end of the first quarter, Raptors point guard T.J. Ford scooped a layup past Carroll with 1.8 seconds left to give the Raptors an 11-point lead. On the ensuing possession however, Jake Voskuhl heaved a midcourt pass to rookie Adam Morrison., who received the ball before midcourt, took a dribble and despite being double-teamed, netted a 48-footer as the buzzer expired to pull Charlotte within 27-19.

Both teams struggled from beyond the arc. Charlotte shot 5-18 and the Raptors finished 3-12.

Despite the poor perimeter shooting, Toronto’s point guards still outplayed Charlotte’s. Raymond Felton scored nine points, his lowest total in nearly a month, on a rough 4-15 outing while Knight contributed five points and seven assists.

The loss put Charlotte 2-10 all-time against the Raptors, who have won five of their past six games to clinch their first playoff spot since 2001-2002. The Raptors are nearly set to clinch the Atlantic Division despite having two prominent rookies on the injured list.

Raptors forward Andrea Bargnani had an emergency appendectomy March 22 and the team has been tentative to set a return date, while forward Jorge Garbajosa is expected to miss six months after undergoing surgery on his left ankle and leg the following day.

The Bobcats (28-46) now return to Charlotte Bobcats Arena to face Southeast Division-leading Washington for the first game in a back-to-back, home-at-home set. Charlotte still has eight games remaining, including another back-to-back with Miami. Charlotte is striving for the 32-win plateau, which would make it the most successful third-year expansion team since 1980.