Gilgeous-Alexander, Dort lead Thunder over Raptors

Canadians Shai Gilgeous-Alexander and Luguentz Dort made the most of their trip home on Wednesday.

TORONTO – Canadians Shai Gilgeous-Alexander and Luguentz Dort made the most of their trip home on Wednesday.

Gilgeous-Alexander, from Hamilton, had 16 of his 26 points in a pivotal third quarter, while Montreal’s Dort scored 22 points and was a brick wall on defence in the Oklahoma City Thunder’s thrilling 110-109 victory over the Toronto Raptors.

Gary Trent Jr. scored 24 points in a game that the Raptors thought they’d won on a Justin Champagnie tip-in at the buzzer. The Raptors swarmed the seldom-used Champagnie before the shot was disallowed — video review showed the ball was still in his hands when the buzzer sounded.

Fred VanVleet had 19 points and nine assists for the Raptors (11-14), while Scottie Barnes had 18 points and eight rebounds. Chris Boucher finished with 11 points.

The Raptors led by 13 points in the second quarter, but their offence came to a standstill in the third. The Raptors could only muster 12 points in the quarter, while the Thunder ended the frame with a 25-3 run for an 87-76 lead to start the fourth.

When Derrick Favors scored off a Raptors turnover early in the fourth quarter to put the visitors up by 13 points, a smattering of boos could be heard from the capacity crowd of 19,800 at Scotiabank Arena.

The Raptors clawed back to within six points on consecutive three-pointers from VanVleet. Then Siakam, Trent and VanVleet connected on back-to-back-to-back threes to tie the game with 59 seconds to play to tie the game, bringing the fans out of their seats.

Champagnie muscled to the hoop for a basket with 18 seconds to play for a two-point lead, thumping his chest in celebration. But Mike Muscala hit a three with 8.9 seconds to play, which would turn out to be the game-clincher when Champagnie’s tip-in was disallowed.