Blatche has career-high 36 points, Foye hits winning jumper in Washington win

Blatche scores career-high 36 as Wizards win

EAST RUTHERFORD, N.J. — Andray Blatche scored a career-high 36 points and had 15 rebounds, and Randy Foye hit two jumpers in the final 44 seconds to lead the Washington Wizards to an 89-85 comeback victory over the New Jersey Nets on Sunday night.

Al Thorton added 20 points, and Foye finished with 16 as Washington rallied from a 14-point first-half deficit to deny the Nets (6-53) their first winning streak of the season.

Yi Jianlian had 20 points and a career-high 19 rebounds for New Jersey, but missed two crucial free throws in the final 1:19. Devin Harris had 18 points and 14 assists, however he was just 1 for 8 in the final quarter. Brook Lopez had 16 points and 10 rebounds.

Foye broke an 83-all tie with a baseline jumper with 44.6 seconds to play and he added another from the same left side with 13.5 seconds left to extend the lead to four points.

The Nets rallied from a seven-point fourth quarter deficit behind Terrence Williams, who scored seven of his 11 points in about a 90-second span. The rookie’s monster slam following a rebound by Yi and a long downcourt pass put New Jersey ahead 81-79 with 3:41 to go.

JaVale McGee tied it with 2:56 left, slamming home a second-chance opportunity.

Blatche gave the Wizards the lead at 83-81 with a jumper with 1:34 to play, and then Yi tied the game, making one of two free throws with attempts at 1:19 and 58.8 seconds.

After a Washington time out, the Wizards seemed to fool New Jersey as Foye dribbled to the left baseline and swished a 15-footer.

After Harris missed in the lane for the Nets, Foye eventually came back down and hit another jumper from close to the same spot.

Jarvis Hayes and Yi missed in close on the New Jersey’s next possession and Thorton iced the game with his free throws with 4.8 seconds left.

Harris scored a meaningless basket before the final buzzer.

Blatche scored 14 points in the third quarter to help Washington turn a six-point deficit into a 69-68 lead. He opened the fourth quarter with a basket in the low post to ignite a 10-3 spurt that had the Wizards ahead 79-72 when Blatche scored on a rebound with 5:21 to play.

The Nets shot 68 percent from the field in the first quarter and had Harris, Yi and Lopez provided all the points in an 18-4 spurt that gave them a 29-15 lead.

Washington cut the margin to seven points at the end of the quarter and narrowed the margin to six at the half.

NOTES: Blatche matched his career high by scoring in double figures for eight straight games. … Neither team shot well. Washington was 42.2 percent from the field and the Nets 35.2, including 26.2 in the second half (11 of 42). … Blatche’s previous career high was 33.