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SACRAMENTO, Calif. -- DeMarcus Cousins did something Sunday hes not usually known for: lots of smiling. The often-scowling Cousins had 32 points and 12 rebounds, and Isaiah Thomas had 30 points and eight assists in the Kings 124-107 victory that sent the Milwaukee Bucks to their seventh straight loss. Cousins has shown increasing maturity over the last 13 games since he was called for technical fouls Nos. 14 and 15 of the season and ejected in a Feb. 25 loss at home to Houston. That left Cousins one technical from a mandatory one-game suspension. But the emotional Cousins has put a halt to complaining to referees and hasnt drawn another technical. Against the Bucks, he was clearly enjoying a big margin of victory, a rarity this season for the Kings. "Its always fun to win," said Cousins, who dodged a question about any new-found approach to the game. "My focus is going out and winning." Different approach or not, Cousins clearly had his way with the Bucks. Scoring in a variety of ways, he had 14 points in the first quarter and 21 by halftime. The Bucks were never able to contain the talented Kings centre. Cousins made 14 of 19 shots, four of six free throws and added four assists and two steals. "Now I see where he is bringing it more (upcourt) on the dribble after the rebound," Bucks coach Larry Drew said. "I was mad at my guys for not getting in his way, but you can see he looks comfortable doing it. Its just the matter of him being under control and it looks like he is and making the right plays out of it." The Kings demonstrated early they would not be overlooking the struggling Bucks. Sacramento led by 23 points after one quarter, took a 70-44 lead into halftime, and were ahead by 34 points after three quarters. "We cant go out there and lay down. Im not saying we did that tonight," Drew said. "This is one of the few games we came out and laid an egg at the very beginning. Weve actually been playing some pretty good basketball." Rudy Gay had 24 points and eight rebounds and Ben McLemore scored 15 points for the Kings, who had dropped four of their past five home games against the Bucks. O.J. Mayo scored 13 of his 21 points in the fourth quarter for Milwaukee. Mayo consistently connected from the outside and the Bucks shot 75 per cent in the fourth quarter in outscoring the Kings 37-20. "I told our guys that any win in the NBA is something to be happy about, but I just didnt like how we played in the second half," Kings coach Michael Malone said. "We gave up 63 points, they shot 64 per cent from the field in the second half. We had no discipline." Ersan Ilyasova had 14 points and Jeff Adrien and Ramon Sessions each added 13 for Milwaukee. Brandon Knight came in averaging 20.1 points in March, but the Milwaukee guard missed his first seven shots and finished 2-of-12 and had six points and seven assists. Milwaukee (13-57) has dropped 10 of 11 games overall. The Bucks have won only eight home games and have lost eight straight and 18 of 19 on the road, dating to Jan. 2. Their lone road win in that stretch was Feb. 24 against Philadelphia, another struggling team. Milwaukee will need to reverse the losing trend quickly if it hopes to avoid a franchise-worst season. The 1993-94 Bucks had a 20-62 record. Thomas scored 14 points and Cousins had 11 in the third quarter. Sacramento went over the 100-point mark on Thomas 3-pointer at the 2:35 mark and was in front 104-70 after three quarters. The Kings came out a little sluggish in the third quarter, but seemed to get inspired after Cousins grabbed a rebound and dribbled the length of the court and finished with a resounding dunk. The basket ignited a 16-3 run that put the Kings ahead 90-57. NOTES: Bucks rookie guard Nate Wolters fractured his left hand Thursday against Golden State and will miss the final 13 games. ... Royce White played his second straight game for the Kings, getting in for the final 48 seconds. ... The Bucks shot 27 per cent in the opening quarter and 35 per cent in the first half. ... Mayo had not played in the previous six games. Stitched Tigers Jerseys . Raonic, the No. 8 seed from Thornhill, Ont., fired 11 aces and did not have a double-fault as he comfortably advanced to the third round at the Masters Series event. Detroit Tigers Store . TSN Hockey Insider Bob McKenzie tweeted Monday morning that Callahan - who is set to become an unrestricted free agent this summer, is now open to a six-year contract at less than $7 million per season. https://www.cheaptigers.com/ . - Considering where Jeff Gordon was after Richmond, left out of the Chase for the Sprint Cup championship in part due to some late-race shenanigans, he couldnt have been happier on Sunday. Tigers Jerseys 2019 . The Packers, Lions and Bears were a combined 35-15 and as long as Jay Cutler can say healthy, all three could make the playoffs in 2012. Detroit Tigers Gear . Or, for that matter, the aged.GREENSBORO, N.C. -- With T.J. Warren scoring near his usual pace, North Carolina State was poised to pull off a second straight significant upset at the ACC tournament. Then the Wolfpack ran out of steam. No. 7 Duke beat N.C. State 75-67 on Saturday in the ACC semifinals, denying the Wolfpack a third win in three days. "They really believed we could win and they played with great courage," coach Mark Gottfried said. "I thought maybe we got tired in the second half. We didnt seem as fresh as we have been." Warren, the ACC player of the year, scored 21 points for N.C. State to 20 for Dukes Jabari Parker in a matchup of the ACCs top two scorers. Warren led the league with an average of 24.9 points while Parker was second at 19.2 points per game. On Saturday, Warren scored 21 points but was just 4 of 13 after halftime while facing a barrage of double teams. "Rodney (Hood) did a good job on him just to keep him to 21," coach Mike Krzyzewski said. "You can overcoach, and we overcoached our preparation. He was doing what we asked him to do, and it wasnt working, and he said, Coach, let me just play him my normal way. That was better." The seventh-seeded Wolfpack (21-13) shot just 36 per cent in the second half -- after hitting 67 per cent in the opening half -- and were denied their first title game berth since 2007. "N.C. State was fighting for their lives," Dukes Rasheed Sulaimon said. Lennard Freeman had 13 points and Anthony "Cat" Barber finished with 12 for N.C. State, which for much of the day looked capable of pulling off a second straight resume-enhancing upset after knocking off No. 11 Syracuse in the quarterfinals. "I hope they take a look at our team and see how much better we are than we were at the beginning," Gottfried said. "If you win at Pitt, beat Syracuse and beat Duke, hell, youre about a Final Four team then. I think we showed that we certainly belong in the field of 68." Sulaimon added 16 points for the third-seeded Blue Devils (26-7) while Rodney Hood had 14 points and keyed the defensive effort against Warren. Duke earned its 31stt championship game appearance and first since 2011.dddddddddddd The Blue Devils will play No. 6 Virginia on Sunday. Dukes 69-65 win in January stood as the Cavaliers lone conference loss until Maryland beat them last week. Duke won on Saturday with a 20-7 run in the second half that was fueled by three N.C. State turnovers and a spate of missed shots. "Im not going to force it to get past two people," said Barber, who said he was double-teamed as well. "They just did a great job of defending. ... They just kept their composure throughout the game." Parker scored six points during the burst that pushed the Blue Devils lead into double figures for the first time. A botched lob to N.C. State big man Jordan Vandenberg led to an open court the other way for Parker, and his authoritative dunk over a sidestepping Barber made it 49-45 with 15 minutes left. Quinn Cook ended the run with a 3 that made it 61-49 with about 9 1/2 minutes remaining. "We got a lot of easy baskets from our defence, and once we got into a rhythm, our shots started falling down and we got rolling," Sulaimon said. N.C. State never could string together a game-threatening run after that, and the Wolfpacks best chance down the stretch came when they closed to 67-59 on Freemans jumper with about 3 minutes left. Hood missed the front end of a one-and-one but the rebound went to Parker -- who finished with a momentum-shifting dunk to put Duke back up by 10. Cook had 14 points for the Blue Devils, who gave N.C. State its most lopsided loss of the season in the teams only previous meeting -- a 95-60 thumping at Cameron Indoor Stadium in which Duke seemed content to let Warren score and clamp down on everyone else. At least early on Saturday, though, the Blue Devils once again couldnt stop anyone. N.C. State hit 13 of 15 shots over an 11-minute stretch and scored on 15 of 16 possessions, with the only empty trip in that span coming when Warren missed the front end of a one-and-one. "First half, neither team could stop one another," Krzyzewski said. "In the second half, we just played better defence." ' ' '