National Basketball Association

Short-handed Hornets take it to Suns

Published Nov. 20, 2009 5:55 a.m. ET

foxsports

The rookie didn't flinch in crunch time and the old veteran couldn't miss.

Darren Collison's poise and Peja Stojakovic's sharp shooting provided the 1-2 punch the suddenly surging New Orleans Hornets needed to pull out a surprising 110-103 victory over the Phoenix Suns on Thursday night.

The victory was the Hornets' second straight under new head coach Jeff Bower, who took over when Byron Scott was fired last week.

"It's still the regular season, (but) for us it was a very important win," said Stojakovic, who hit seven 3-pointers during a 25-point, 13-rebound performance. "We are too good to quit. We have good talent on this team and you can't give up. ... We did struggle in the beginning of the season. Hopefully we can just raise our level of playing and get some consistency."