Rookie Allen Iverson: 31pts vs Damon Stoudamire the Raptors 96/97 NBA *Jerry Stackhouse Game Winner

The Toronto Raptors started celebrating a tad early last night at the CoreStates Center.
``I hate to bring up Kansas,'' 76ers guard Rex Walters said of his alma mater, ``but one thing we learned was: When a team scores, take it out quick, because they might be celebrating.''
What Toronto was celebrating was a three-pointer by Damon Stoudamire that tied the score at 99 with 4.1 seconds left.
``We didn't match up . . . on that last shot,'' said Raptors coach Darrell Walker, ``. . . and that's what happened.''
What happened was: While Toronto was celebrating, the Sixers passed the ball from Walters to Allen Iverson to a streaking Jerry Stackhouse, who stopped, faked and sank a 16-footer at the buzzer to give the Sixers a 101-99 victory.
The Sixers' 10th win of the season broke a franchise-record 12-game home losing streak.
Toronto had expected the Sixers, who had a 20-second time-out remaining, to call time. They didn't.
``It was maybe the best look I had all night,'' said Stackhouse, who hit only his third of 10 shots. ``It wasn't a desperation situation. If I miss, we're in overtime.''
As the crowd cheered and the Raptors slumped, Stackhouse started trotting nonchalantly off the court, only to be met by a flying Iverson, who jumped into his arms and hugged him.
``Finally,'' exulted Iverson, who scored 31 points, had six assists and two turnovers in 42 minutes. ``There have been a lot of tough ones like this where we were supposed to come out with a win.''
The Sixers got a second strong performance from Don MacLain, the reserve forward who has spent five weeks on the injured list and most games missing in action. He had 21 points.
``I know I can play,'' said MacLain. ``I'm not like some guy they're paying minimum wage to sit and be the 12th man. This is what I was brought in to do.''
The win stopped the latest losing skid at two. It creates an air of wary optimism on a team that has not seen things fall its way in almost two full months, a stretch over which it has gone 3-25 and is now 10-33.
``This is the first one we've won where we actually came back,'' said center Michael Cage, who had 13 rebounds in 27 minutes. ``It would have been awful for us to go into overtime.''
Derrick Coleman, in his first appearance since injuring a finger on Jan. 8, did not start. He had two points in 19 minutes.
It was an odd game. At times, both teams played as if trying to apply the Cold War philosophy of mutually assured destruction.
The Raptors blew their early momentum. The Sixers took a 10-point third-quarter lead, then lost it.
``To fight that hard just to hang on,'' Cage said. ``There were three or four minutes at the close of the fourth quarter where we were fighting just to hang on.''
And when Stoudamire's long, arcing shot fell, Cage said he looked at the few seconds remaining on the clock and thought, ``This is not happening.''
``I was glad Jerry's shot went in at the buzzer,'' he said. ``I was glad they didn't have a chance to get a shot off. They would probably have hit it. It would probably have been a three-pointer, a Hail Mary.''
But there were no last-second heroics by the Raptors, though with 10.1 seconds to play and the Sixers up by three with the ball, it looked as if their might be.
That was when the usually sure-handed Walters, dribbling at midcourt, put the ball off his foot and right into the hands of the Raptors' Doug Christie.
``He didn't strip me,'' Walters said. ``I just lost the ball. I should go back to Dribbling 101. . . . I thought I was about to get lynched.''
Walters went to the bench. Christie's two foul shots cut the Sixers' lead to one with nine seconds to play. But after Iverson hit two foul shots to stretch the lead to three and Stoudamire dropped his stunner to tie it, the stage was set for Walters' redemption.
``I went from the goat to being saved,'' he said, referring to his heady move to inbound the ball past the celebrating Raptors for the last shot.
And Stackhouse went from having had a mediocre night to having one he will remember.
``I don't think I've hit a game-winner right at the buzzer before,'' he said. ``Not even in college.''
Stackhouse had five turnovers and only two rebounds. His frustration was evident on several calls where he posted up, drew significant contact from whoever was guarding him and then failed to get a foul call. But those frustrations had evaporated before Stackhouse reached the dressing room.