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Big 2nd-half run lifts Suns past Magic, 109-93

PHOENIX - Goran Dragic scored 18 points to lead a balanced Phoenix offense and the Suns used a big second-half run to beat the Orlando Magic 109-93 on Wednesday night.

Gerald Green added 14 points, including three 3-pointers during a 23-3 Phoenix outburst that turned a close game into a runaway.

Channing Frye and Markieff Morris added 12 apiece and Miles Plumlee had 10 points and nine rebounds for the Suns, back from a 2-1 eastern trip.

Tobias Harris scored 23 points and Arron Afflalo had 20 for the Magic, who are 1-22 on the road since mid-December. They are an NBA-worst 4-32 on the road for the season.

Orlando, already without Jameer Nelson (sore left knee), lost center Nicola Vucevic when he drew two quick technical fouls and was ejected with 2:32 left in the first quarter.

Vucevic had eight points in 9½ minutes when he was tossed.

The win left the Suns 1½ games behind Dallas and Memphis for the final two playoff spots in the Western Conference.

Neither team led by more than seven before the big Suns' run took off late in the third quarter.

Marcus Morris hit a pair of 3s as Phoenix outscored the Magic 8-1 to end the third quarter after Orlando had taken its first lead of the second half, 73-72 on Andrew Nicholson's inside basket with 1:57 left in the period. The Magic still led, 75-74, when Harris made two free throws 20 seconds later.

Morris made a 3, Dragic scored on layup off a Magic turnover, then Morris made another 3, with 2.9 seconds left in quarter.

Green stretched the run to 14-1 with two 3s to open the fourth quarter, then added another moments later. By the time Markieff Morris made a 15-footer, the Suns were up 97-78 with 7:45 left. Phoenix led by as many as 21 after that.

The Magic, losers at Golden State on Tuesday night, scored the first six points of the game, and that was the biggest lead of the half for either team. The score was tied at 25 after one and at 52 at the break.

Frye scored the first five in a 7-0 spurt to start the second half to put Phoenix up 59-52 on P.J. Tucker's fast-break layup. Miles Plumlee's dunk on a feed from Dragic had Phoenxi up 65-58 with 6:18 left in the third. However, Afflalo's four-point play capped a 9-2 run that tied it at 67 with 3:34 remaining in the period.

NOTES: Orlando's lone road win since Dec. 16 was at Philadelphia on Feb. 26. ... Only five of the Suns' remaining 14 games are at home. ... Vucevic's first technical came for arguing after Frye blocked his shot, and his second after he threw the ball at Frye after the Suns' forward drew an offensive foul. ... The game was Orlando's second stop on a four-game road trip. ... Orlando joined Milwaukee and Philadelphia as 50-game losers.

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