lifted Paul Okons charges into sixth spot, one ahead of Saturdays op

DALLAS -- DeMarcus Cousins and the Sacramento Kings started and ended with victories on a six-game trip that got a little weird in the middle.Now theyre headed home, but the road-heavy schedule isnt quite finished.Cousins had 24 points and 14 rebounds, and the Kings snapped a three-game losing streak with a 120-89 victory over the last-place Dallas Mavericks on Wednesday night.Rudy Gay scored 19 as the Kings wrapped up a trip that started with a win at Brooklyn before an overtime loss at Washington on a back-to-back and a postponement in Philadelphia over poor floor conditions.It was the second road trip of at least five games for the Kings, who play 21 of the first 35 games away from their new Golden 1 Center.Nobody wants to fly that long with a loss under their belt, said Cousins, who had his 11th double-double and tied his season high with seven assists. A good way to go home, good way to end this trip. Hopefully we can gain some momentum from this and start a little streak.Deron Williams had 20 points for the injury-plagued Mavericks, who dropped to 4-17 in what is shaping up as their worst season in more than 20 years. Four rotation players were out, most notably Dirk Nowitzki (strained right Achilles tendon).The Kings led by four when they started the second half with an 11-0 run. They led by as many as 23 points in the third quarter before the lead ballooned to 33 late in the fourth.Dallas coach Rick Carlisle didnt take questions after a roughly 30-second statement following the game, and reporters were later asked to leave the locker room for a team meeting.That was a very, very, very disappointing performance, Carlisle said. The second half was inexcusable. The way we played -- just the way we performed all around -- everything from how we competed, decision-making. Shot-making comes and goes, but the competitive spirit has got to be there.TIP-INSKings: Kosta Koufos had six of his eight points during the 11-0 run to start the second half. ... Garrett Temple made all four of his 3-point attempts and finished with 17 points. One of the 3s came after Dallas had pulled within 14 midway through the fourth. ... Former Dallas point guard Darren Collison scored 19 points.Mavericks: At halftime, Harrison Barnes received his ring as a member of the gold medal U.S. mens team at the Rio Olympics last summer. ... Dallas got two technicals in the fourth quarter for Carlisle calling a timeout when the Mavericks didnt have any. Its the second time this season that has happened.TURNABOUTThe Kings have won two in a row in Dallas following a 22-game streak by the Mavericks that was the longest at home against any opponent in franchise history. The previous streak ran from 2003 to 2016.WALKING WOUNDEDDallas center Andrew Bogut will be out 10 to 14 days with a right knee injury sustained in Mondays loss to Charlotte, while Nowitzki missed his sixth straight game and 16th overall. The other rotation players out are guards J.J. Barea (left calf injury) and Seth Curry (right knee sprain). Curry is the closest to returning.FIRST STARTKings guard Ben McLemore scored nine points, hitting 1 of 6 from 3-point range, in his first start of the season after sitting for three straight games as a coachs decision. Arron Afflalo didnt play after starting 18 of the first 20.Ben has been doing his work and it is no detriment to Arron or the group or anything, coach Dave Joerger said. It was just a great opportunity for him.NUMBING NUMBERSBarnes, Dallas leading scorer, had 11 points on just 5-of-16 shooting. Wesley Matthews scored 16 points, none in the second half. The Mavericks had a season-high 23 turnovers and were outscored 34-7 on points off turnovers.UP NEXTKings: Host Knicks on Friday before traveling to Utah for back-to-back.Mavericks: Finish four-game homestand Friday against Indiana.Ray Allen Jersey Large . General manager Jarmo Kekalainen told Aaron Portzline of The Columbus Dispatch on Friday that he wants to see Gaboriks contributions go beyond the scoresheet before considering a long-term deal for the soon-to-be unrestricted free agent. Custom Thunder Jerseys . Detroit and Boston are deadlocked, 1-1, and Tigers manager Jim Leyland could be forgiven if he was caught rationalizing instead of dissecting how his club could blow a 5-1 lead late in Game 2. http://www.customthunderjersey.com/ . -- The proud fathers huddled near the Dallas Stars dressing room, smiling, laughing and telling stories while wearing replica green sweaters of their sons team. Custom Ray Allen Jersey . Ferrer, trying to win his fourth title on Mexican soil, will next play South Africas Kevin Anderson, who eliminated American Sam Querrey,7-6 (2), 6-4. Also Wednesday, Gilles Simon (6) of France beat Donald Young of the United States 6-4, 6-3, Ukraines Alexandr Dolgopolov downed Frenchman Jeremy Chardy 6-3, 6-4 and Croatias Ivo Karlovic defeated Dudi Sela of Israel 7-6 (4), 6-2. Cheap Custom Thunder Jersey . Instead of dwelling on the negative, Oates focused on what was good about the clubs recent play. It worked.Fuelled by a drought-breaking clean sheet, goalkeeper Paul Izzo is set on helping Central Coast claim back-to-back A-League wins for the first time in nearly 1000 days.The Mariners are saying goodbye to one unwanted statistic at a time under new coach Paul Okon.Last Thursdays 2-0 upset of Perth put an end to 36 games without a clean sheet and sealed the clubs first home win since New Years Eve.Having experienced first-hand the disappointment of conceding 70 goals last season, Izzo was relieved to finally give commentators something to talk about other than his sides leaky defence.Its great to finally get the monkey off the back, but more importantly we won the game which is the bigger picture, the 21-year-old gloveman said.Its a sign of how things are changing around here, the style weve got going on now is completely different.It would have been extremely disappointing if wed conceded and only won 2-1.That triumph lifted Paul Okons charges into sixth spot, one ahead of Saturdays opponents Western Sydney.The challlenge now is going one better than their 1-1 draw with Tony Popovics side five weeks ago.ddddddddddddDo that and the Mariners will taste successive victories for the first time since April 2014.It would be a great way to make a statement and maintain our spot in the top six, Izzo said.But we dont want to look too much into the ladder at this stage of the season, we just want to focus on our style and keep trying to perfect the way we play.Meanwhile, the club have released teenage goalkeeper Tom Heward-Belle from his contract effective immediately.The 19-year-old, who was third choice behind Izzo and Ivan Necevski, requested a release to spend more time in Sydney focusing on university.Heward-Belle made three appearances for the Mariners, including an impromptu A-League debut on Boxing Day last year when he was thrown into the mix following Izzos red card in the 4-1 loss to Sydney FC. 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