SEATTLE, Feb. 6 (Ticker) -- Brent Barry scored 12 of his 21 points in the fourth quarter as the Seattle SuperSonics rallied for a 90-79 victory over the punchless Phoenix Suns.

Barry made all four of his shots in the final period, including a pair of 3-pointers. He led five SuperSonics in double figures and helped pick up the slack as All-Star guard Gary Payton had an off night.

"I try to take what's available," Barry said. "Vin (Baker) did a good job of establishing the post. When they did double, we did a good job of swinging the ball with everybody contributing."

Barry also had six steals as he spearheaded a superb defensive effort that had the Suns threatening the worst half in team history. Phoenix scored just 27 points on 12-of-42 shooting after halftime.

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NBA.TV highlights from Suns-Sonics: 56k | 300k Brent Barry scored just two points less than his opposing team in the fourth quarter.

"I was just fired up, focused on closing this game out, because last week we had trouble doing that," Barry said. "It was a good win for us and we go into the break feeling good about what we've done."

"I thought defensively we turned it up a notch, which was the key to holding this team to 27 points in the second half," SuperSonics coach Nate McMillan said. "I always felt that if we defend, we play better offensively and tonight we did that in the second half."

In the final period, Barry had outscored Phoenix until the Suns made a pair of meaningless baskets in the final minute. That prevented them from matching the franchise low of 25 points in a half, set March 7, 2001 vs. Sacramento.

"Other than the last couple baskets that Tony (Delk) hit, we would have held them to 10 or under," Barry said. "It was kind of garbage baskets. I thought we did a heck of a job swarming. We were out there communicating and that helped."

Phoenix committed 13 of its 19 turnovers in the second half.

"We were throwing the ball all over the gym and everything just spilled over from there," Phoenix coach Scott Skiles said. "They got their break going a little bit and gained some confidence and we never could stop it after that."

Baker totaled 17 points and nine rebounds and Rashard Lewis scored 15 points for Seattle, which snapped a four-game losing streak in the series. Payton scored just 11 points in 33 minutes.

"Me not playing a lot of minutes or playing 30-some minutes is good," Payton said. "It gets (my teammates') confidence up and hopefully we can do this a lot more often."

Shawn Marion scored 19 points for the Suns, who had won their last three visits to KeyArena. Phoenix shot under 40 percent (35-of-88), including 1-of-8 from the arc.

The Suns led by as many as 11 points in the third period and still held a 65-57 lead before the Sonics closed the quarter with baskets from Jerome James, Lewis and Payton.

"The third quarter killed us," Marion said. "We got too many turnovers and we didn't take care of the ball."

Delk made two free throws to start the fourth quarter, but Seattle took the lead for good with nine straight points. Barry made a jumper and 3-pointer around a basket by rookie Earl Watson. A layup by rookie Vladimir Radmanovic gave the Sonics a 72-67 lead with 8:57 to go.

A layup by Delk cut the deficit to 74-71, but the Suns did not score again for more than four minutes. Barry hit a 3-pointer, Baker made a layup and Lewis sank two free throws for an 81-71 advantage with 2:43 remaining.

"The one thing we have lacked the last week was playing with emotion, playing together with the type of energy that our team can bring because we're so young, we're so athletic," Barry said.

Radmanovic scored 11 points for the Sonics, who shot 44 percent (34-of-78) and made 18-of-20 free throws.

Stephon Marbury had 16 points and 12 assists, Delk scored 12 points and Jake Tsakalidis grabbed 16 rebounds for the Suns, who attempted just 12 free throws, making eight.

Marbury scored 14 points and Marion added 13 in the first half as Phoenix opened a 52-43 lead.