Detroit suffers its 6th straight defeat

Detroit’s Greg Monroe drives against Toronto’s Jonas Valanciunas, left, and Chuck Hayes.

TORONTO — Kyle Lowry had 21 points and nine assists, Jonas Valanciunas had 16 points and 11 rebounds, and the Toronto Raptors beat Detroit 112-91 Wednesday night to hand the slumping Pistons their sixth consecutive loss.

DeMar DeRozan shook off a slow start to finish with 19 points and Terrence Ross had 17 for the Raptors, who snapped a two-game skid and won for the sixth time in eight games.

Amir Johnson had 10 points and 11 rebounds for Toronto, which leads the Atlantic Division.

Brandon Jennings had 22 points and Rodney Stuckey returned after missing the previous three games with a sore right shoulder to score 14 for Detroit, which has not won since a 115-92 victory at Cleveland on Dec. 23. The Pistons have dropped eight of nine overall.

Josh Smith and Kentavious Caldwell-Pope had 13 apiece for the Pistons, while Greg Monroe added 11 points and 11 rebounds.

DeRozan had nine points in a fourth quarter in which Toronto led by double digits throughout.

Monroe scored eight points in the first quarter and Caldwell-Pope and Smith each had six, but Ross scored 11 to give Toronto a 26-25 edge after one.

Caldwell-Pope and Jennings each had seven in the second as the Pistons answered a 13-2 Toronto run with a 14-0 spurt of their own to lead 54-50 at halftime.

The Raptors shot just 6 for 23 from the field in the second.

Ross sandwiched 3's around a layup by DeRozan as the Raptors opened the third quarter with an 8-0 run.

Valanciunas and DeRozan scored eight points in the third, as Toronto took an 84-74 lead into the fourth.