Van Horn's Game Lifts Nets

April 13, 1998 / 1:14 AM EDT / CBS/AP

For a brief moment, it looked like Keith Van Horn might be finished for the season.

But his left arm injury was only a scare, and Van Horn came through with a career-high 33 points to help move the New Jersey Nets into seventh place in the Eastern Conference with a 116-109 victory over the Toronto Raptors on Sunday night.

"I thought he broke his arm and I really got nauseated," Nets coach John Calipari said.

Kerry Kittles added 31 points, Sam Cassell had 25 and New Jersey played a perfect final three minutes.

The Nets (42-36), winners of five straight and seven of their last nine, moved one-half game ahead of the New York Knicks, who lost a controversial 82-81 decision to the Miami Heat earlier in the day.

"It's in their hands," Calipari said of his team. "Tonight, they showed they want to win."

The Nets went 5-for-5 from the field and 8-for-8 from the line over the final three minutes.

"Seventh place is not secure, and we have to try and win the rest of our games," Van Horn said.

New Jersey plays Toronto at home on Tuesday, then plays road games at Charlotte on Wednesday and Orlando on Friday before ending the season with a home date against Detroit next Sunday.

The Van Horn scare came when he was fouled in the air by Reggie Slater in the first period and landed hard on his left arm. He got up after a few moments and continued.

"I knew it wasn't broken. I just jammed it hard.

"It felt really weak after sitting on the bench (a little later), and I didn't want to be put in a shooting situation right away," he said. "It hurt when I shot tonight."

With Dee Brown scoring seven points, Toronto rallied from a nine-point deficit at the start of the fourth quarter and cut New Jersey's lead to 98-96 with 3 ½ minutes to play.

The teams traded baskets until a traveling call on Toronto rookie Tracy McGrady with 1:24 left gave the ball back to New Jersey leading 106-102.

Van Horn then broke the 30-point mark with a corner jumper, Doug Christie missed from the lane and Van Horn made two free throws with 42.5 seconds left for a 110-102 lead.

The Nets were ahead by at least six the rest of the way.

Brown finished with 30 for Toronto, including 18 on 3-pointers. McGrady had 20 points, and Marcus Camby had 11 points and 11 rebounds.

New Jersey led 55-51 at the half, and Kittles' 13 points and Van Horn's dominance inside gave the Nets a 12-point lead midway through the third quarter.

Camby made a couple of late baskets to cut the Nets' lead to 85-78 at the end of the period.

Notes: Toronto forward Gary Trent did not dress for the second straight game after reinjuring a hip flexor. ... New Jersey is 17-22 on the road, a seven win impovement on last season. ... Rookie Chauncey Billups has averaged 12.3 points, 3.5 assists and 2.7 rebounds since his trade to Toronto from Boston 24 games ago.