Photo Gallery | Box Score Highlights | Quotes | Notes Mike James Points: 32 Rebounds: 4 Assists:10 Tough luck. We had a chance, we went up by three and couldn't get a stop. - James The Bobcats had 42 points in the paint to the Raptors 26. Team RB ST BLK TOT CHA 44 10 3 57 TOR 35 7 10 52

April 2, 2006

TORONTO (CP) -- Brevin Knight scored 19 to lead the Charlotte Bobcats 94-88 over Toronto on Sunday, handing the hapless Raptors their eighth loss in a row.

Mike James scored 32 points to top Toronto (26-51), while Matt Bonner had 14.

Primoz Brezec and Jumaine Jones added 17 apiece for Charlotte (22-55).

The Raptors trailed by as much as nine points late in the third quarter Sunday in front of a crowd of 17,679 at the Air Canada Centre, but they came back in the fourth to take four-point lead on a basket by James with 3:26 left in the game.

Loren Woods had 10 points, five rebounds and five blocks. (Ron Turenne/NBAE/Getty Images)

But the Raptors managed just more two baskets and committed a pair of costly turnovers in the final minute as Charlotte cruised to victory in a game that didn't hold a lot of significance for either team.

Both teams are out of playoff contention, the Raptors missing the post-season for the fourth straight season. And both teams were playing with depleted lineups. The Raptors are without star forward Chris Bosh, who's on the mend from a sprained thumb, for the rest of the season. The Bobcats will end their season without Emeka Okafor and Sean May.

Seldom-used Loren Woods, whose contract expires this off-season, had a strong game, finishing with 10 points, five rebounds and five blocks in 21 minutes.

James, who's taken some heat lately for tossing up too many shots, was a solid 10-for-17 from the field and added 10 assists.

The normally dependable Morris Peterson and rookie Charlie Villanueva both struggled, Peterson finishing with nine points on a paltry 4-for-16 shooting, and Villanueva scoring just three points on 1-for-6 shooting. Villanueva added seven rebounds.

Fellow Raptors rookie Joey Graham had nine points and a team-high nine boards.

The Bobcats outshot Toronto 46 per cent to the Raptors' 45, and outrebounded them 44-35.

The Raptors raced out to a seven-point lead early in the first quarter, but coughed up 10 points on six turnovers and trailed 23-22 heading into the second.

The Bobcats took a seven-point lead early in the second quarter, and led the Raptors 50-46 at halftime.

Charlotte shot just 32 per cent in the third quarter, yet still managed to assemble a nine-point lead. The Raptors ended the third on a 5-0 run to cut Charlotte's lead to 70-66 with a quarter left to play.

Notes: Former prime minister Paul Martin sat courtside with Larry Tannenbaum, chairman of the board of Maple Leaf Sports and Entertainment Ltd. ... Eric Williams (strained stomach muscle) also didn't dress for Toronto. ... With five games left of the season, the Raptors are at Miami on Tuesday, then Orlando on Wednesday before returning home to host Detroit on Friday.