Wall, Beal help Wizards even up with Raptors

BRADLEY Beal scored 31 points before fouling out and John Wall recorded 27 points, 14 assists, six rebounds and three steals as the Washington Wizards posted a 106-98 victory over the visiting Toronto Raptors on Sunday night at Capital One Arena to even the Eastern Conference first-round series at two games apiece.

Beal made 5 of 7 3-point attempts before his exit as his teammates closed out the victory in impressive fashion. Marcin Gortat and Otto Porter Jr. added 12 points apiece and Kelly Oubre Jr. had 10 for the eighthseeded Wizards.

DeMar DeRozan had 35 points, six rebounds and six assists for the top-seeded Raptors, who were outscored 6647 in the second half. Kyle Lowry made four 3-pointers while scoring 19 points, Jonas Valanciunas had 11 points and Jakob Poeltl tallied 10 for Toronto.

Game 5 is Wednesday in Toronto.

Shortly after Beal’s exit, the Wizards took control with a 12-2 burst to take a 104-96 lead with 21.9 seconds left. The Raptors were unable to get closer than six points.

Lowry drained a 3-pointer to open the second half to give Toronto a 54-40 lead.

Washington followed by erupting with an 18-4 burst and tied the score at 58 on Gortat’s short hook shot with 8:11 remaining.

The Wizards inched ahead at 66-65 when Beal buried a 3-pointer with 5:27 remaining but the Raptors recovered to take an 80-75 lead on DeRozan’s 3-pointer with 37.9 seconds left in the quarter.

But Oubre converted a three-point play and Mike Scott knocked down a jumper with 0.2 seconds left to tie it at 80. That finished off a 40-point stanza in which Washington was 15-of-23 shooting.

Toronto scored the first eight points of the final quarter to take an 88-80 lead. The Wizards used their own 8-0 run a short time later to tie it at 90 on two free throws by Beal with 6:05 to play.