Dylan Harper poured in a career-high 24 points in 23 minutes off the bench to help the host San Antonio Spurs to a resounding 119-94 victory over the Washington Wizards on Thursday.
The Spurs lead by four points at halftime before outscoring Washington by a dozen in the third quarter to take control for good, with Harper (seven points) and Victor Wembanyama (nine) accounting for almost half of San Antonio’s output in the period.
San Antonio kept its collective foot on the accelerator through the final period, expanding its lead to 26 points on Julian Champagnie’s 3-pointer with 4:11 before Harper’s final bucket 30 seconds later — an emphatic, flying dunk.
Wembanyama added 15 points, eight rebounds, four assists and four blocked shots in 17 minutes of court time after starting the game on the bench for the third straight game. Wembanyama is on a minutes restriction after missing 12 contests with a calf injury.
Devin Vassell finished with 18 points while Stephon Castle added 17, Champagnie had 12 and Luke Kornet scored 10 for San Antonio, which has won four straight games.
Alex Sarr led the Wizards with 18 points, with Bub Carrington adding 15, Marvin Bagley III hitting for 13 and Kyshawn George and CJ McCollum each scoring 11.
The Spurs led from the jump, building a nine-point advantage when Harper canned pair of free throws with 55 seconds to play in the first quarter. Carrington’s jumper 19 seconds later brought the Wizards within 34-27 after one period of play.
Bagley’s dunk four minutes into the second quarter tied the game at 36-36. San Antonio swung back, building a 48-41 edge when Harper canned a 3-pointer off a Wembanyama assist at the 5:26 mark of the period. But Sarr’s alley-oop dunk at the buzzer culled the Wizards’ deficit to 57-53 at the break.
Sarr’s 14 points before halftime led all scorers and he was the Wizards’ only player in double figures over the first 24 minutes. Harper paced San Antonio with 13 points while Vassell had 12 while Castle hit for 10 in the first half.
The Wizards took their lone lead of the game on a Bilal Coulibaly free throw with 10:23 to play in the third quarter. San Antonio responded with 9-0 run capped by a three-point play by Vassell and it never looked back, building its advantage to 91-75 on Wembanyama’s tip-in to finish off the period.
