Spurs relinquish big lead, bounce back to beat Sixers

Jeremy Sochan racked up 23 points and Stephon Castle amassed 17 points and 14 assists as the host San Antonio Spurs defeated the depleted Philadelphia 76ers 128-120 on Friday night.

The Spurs led by a dozen points at halftime and by 16 with seven minutes left in the third quarter until Philadelphia rallied to take a 95-91 advantage into the fourth.

The 76ers pushed their lead to 112-104 on Justin Edwards' layup with 7:25 to play but San Antonio responded, forging a 14-5 run capped by Castle's driving shot with 2:35 remaining and going up 121-117.

Harrison Barnes canned a 3-pointer with 53 seconds left and Devin Vassell had a pair of free throws with 30.7 seconds to play to push San Antonio's lead to six, more than enough for the Spurs to hang on and win back-to-back games for the first time since early January.

Vassell added 20 points while Chris Paul had 18 points on 6-of-7 shooting from beyond the arc. Keldon Johnson also had 18 points and Barnes finished with 14 for San Antonio (30-39).

Quentin Grimes led the 76ers (23-46) with 25 points and 10 assists. Edwards also scored 25 points, Guerschon Yabusele had 23 and Ricky Council IV hit for 20 as Philadelphia lost for the sixth time in its past seven games.

The Spurs led 28-26 after 12 minutes of play. San Antonio kept its foot on the accelerator early in the second period, expanding its advantage to 45-34 when Vassell poured in another trey with 7:09 remaining until halftime.

Philadelphia culled its deficit to seven after a basket and then a dunk by Yabusele, the latter with 4:28 left. But the Spurs swung back, building the lead to 55-42 on Castle's layup with 2:39 to play before settling for a 64-52 edge at the break.

Vassell and Sochan had 14 points each before halftime while Johnson added 12 off the bench for San Antonio. Grimes led the 76ers with 12 points in the first half, with Yabusele and Edwards adding 10 each.

--Field Level Media