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McConnell seals it as Sixers knock off Magic

ORLANDO - It's been a while, but 76ers fans can once again raise the cat. T.J. McConnell's game-winner lifted the Sixers to a 112-111 victory over the Orlando Magic on Thursday night at the Amway Center. And as Sixers fan Dennis Grove started doing on Jan. 13, several of the team's followers have been hoisting cats after victories.

ORLANDO - It's been a while, but 76ers fans can once again raise the cat.

T.J. McConnell's game-winner lifted the Sixers to a 112-111 victory over the Orlando Magic on Thursday night at the Amway Center. And as Sixers fan Dennis Grove started doing on Jan. 13, several of the team's followers have been hoisting cats after victories.

So, Thursday was definitely a long-awaited time for that.

McConnell scored on a nine-foot floater with 5.8 seconds left to give the Sixers a one-point lead after a jump ball. Then the point guard stole a pass on the ensuing possession to clinch the win. This marked the second-year point guard's second game-winner of the season.

"Nik [Stauskas] did a good job of boxing out his man," McConnell said of the jump ball. "So I went and got it. I saw the middle open and I took it."

He came to a jump stop, shot the ball over C.J. Watson and it rolled in the net.

McConnell finished with eight points, eight assists, five rebounds, three steals, and zero turnovers in 29 minutes, 49 seconds.

The Sixers (19-34) snapped a five-game losing streak. It was their second victory in nine games. The Magic were perhaps the perfect team to play in that situation.

Orlando (20-35) extended its losing streak to four games and has lost 17 of 22. It didn't help matters that Aaron Gordon was sidelined with a bone bruise in his right foot.

But don't expect the Sixers to feel sorry for the Magic. Joel Embiid missed his eighth consecutive game and 11th in the last 12 after suffering a bone bruise in his left knee on Jan. 20.

The Sixers missed 15 of their first 17 shots in the fourth quarter. Despite that, they kept things competitive. A lot of that had to do with coach Brett Brown's decision to go with a small lineup of Robert Covington, Ersan Ilyasova, Dario Saric, Stauskas and McConnell for the final 3:11.

Ilyasova hit a pair of foul shots with 1:17 left to pull the Sixers within 109-108. Then he scored a layup off an impressive feed from McConnell to give them the lead with 35 seconds left.

But the Magic went ahead, 111-110, on Nik Vucevic's seven-foot hook shot over Stauskas with 26.7 seconds left.

It looked like the Sixers were going to fumble away their chance to win the game.

Saric dribbled baseline before bringing the ball out. But he had a miscommunication on his pass to Ilyasova. The ball went out of bounds, and, after an official review, it was ruled that it was touched by the Magic. The Sixers regained possession with 16.0 seconds remaining.

Then Ilyasova had a corner three-pointer blocked by Vucevic. After bouncing on the court, the ball hit off the backboard and out of bounds. Another official review ruled a jump ball for Ilyasova and Evan Fournier with 11.9 seconds left. McConnell got the ball before providing his game-ending heroics.

"We were looking a little dicey there for a bit," Gerald Henderson said. "We just came up with the plays."

In addition to McConnell's contribution and Ilyasova's 16 points, the Sixers were sparked by 65 bench points.

Saric paced the Sixers with 24 points, eight rebounds, and three steals. Stauskas (13 points, 5 assists), Sergio Rodriguez (12 points, 5 assists) and Nerlens Noel (10 points, seven rebounds and two blocks) were their other double-figure scorers.

Fournier led Orlando with 24 points.

The game did get a little rough.

Noel and Orlando's Serge Ibaka (16 points) had to be separated with 4:45 to go. Noel took exception after being knocked to the floor by Ibaka's elbow. Both players received technicals.

"I got hit in my jaw," Noel said. "That's not necessary. So I'm not going to have that. I don't know why I got a technical. But it is what it is. They get paid to ref the game. So that's what they're going to do."

Noel said Ibaka started talking crazy after elbowing him. Then the Magic big man started flailing his arms near the Orlando bench as if he wanted to fight. Noel didn't back down.

"He needs to take some accent classes first," Noel said. "I wasn't worried about it. It was what it was. If you play like that, that's what's going to transpire.

"I couldn't understand what he was saying. But it's all good."

kpompey@phillynews.com

@PompeyOnSixers

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