MILWAUKEE -- Dwight Howard was disappointed by the Rockets inconsistent effort, even if it was good enough to beat the Bucks. Howard scored 27 points, including three crucial free throws in the closing seconds, and James Harden scored 10 of his 22 points in the decisive third quarter to help Houston hold off a short-handed but scrappy Milwaukee team for its fifth straight win, 101-95 Saturday night. "We didnt attack like we needed to the whole game," Howard said. "There were spurts when we attacked the basket, but there were times when settled for the 3. We have to always be in attack mode." The Rockets let the Bucks get close once in the third and then again down the stretch. "They dug into the lead a little bit," Rockets head coach Kevin McHale said. "Im just glad we got that win. That wasnt one of our best games. We had a lot of possessions offensively where we didnt move the ball." Jeremy Lin added 18 as the Rockets tied their longest winning streak of the season, a mark set in late November. "Were too up and down right now," Lin said. "We go up 12 and then we are only up six. It would be nice for us to build leads and really dominate from start to finish." Howard grabbed 13 rebounds for his 33rd double-double of the season, the third highest in the NBA this season. Nate Wolters, who scored a career-high 19, sparked the Bucks with seven points during a 16-7 run to open the second half and that pulled them to 63-61. "Defensively, they kind of got what they wanted there for a while," McHale said of the Bucks effort. "But we had some good runs inside the game that got us some separation." The Rockets quickly answered with baskets by Patrick Beverley and Terence Jones, and then Harden added seven points to prevent Milwaukee from getting any closer using an 18-8 run to end the third and take an 81-69 lead into the fourth. Brandon Knight scored 23 points and Khris Middleton 20, including three free throws after being fouled behind the arc with 46.6 seconds remaining as Milwaukee came back to trail 98-95. Howard made three of four free throws for Houstons final points and seal the win. "I thought for the most part, we hung in there," Bucks head coach Larry Drew said. "The first half we really were just trying to make it work after we lost Larry Sanders." The Bucks were already down to four reserves before an inadvertent elbow from Harden knocked Sanders out of the game with 7:37 left in the first quarter. The two were fighting for a rebound under the Bucks basket. Sanders fell to the floor for a few moments before walking off. He did not return due to blurred vision. After the game, Bucks coach Larry Drew didnt have any additional news on Sanders. John Henson thought that Sanders got hit in the eye and probably would just have a black eye. With the loss of Sanders, the Rockets had an easier time in the low post and outscored the Bucks 58 to 48 in the paint. Luke Ridnour (back), Ekpe Udoh (ankle), Ersan Ilyasova (back), O.J. Mayo (illness/conditioning) and Caron Butler (ankle) missed the game for Milwaukee. Lin came off the bench to score 11 points in the first half as Houston shot 53.5 per cent and took a 56-45 lead at the half. Harden added 11 points and then helped Howard get his 11th just before the half ended on a slick alley-oop. Howard had just converted a three-point play when Harden lofted a pass that the Rockets centre dunked for a 15-point lead. NOTES: Houston improved to 15-3 against the Eastern Conference, including five straight against the East. ... Rockets C Omer Asik returned after missing the last 31 games with a right thigh/knee injury, but F Greg Smith sore right knee kept him back in Houston. Hes played in only 11 games so far this season. ... Howard is 17 of 18 in career games against the Bucks. ... The Rockets are 12-0 when Howard has scored at least 20 points in the last six weeks, compared to 2-6 when he doesnt. Fjällräven Kånken Outlet . Brazilian striker Brandao opened the scoring with a header in the 55th minute before winger Franck Tabanou volleyed home from close range to double the lead in the 61st. Kånken Ryggsäck Rea . Kyle Denbrook, a soccer player from Saint Marys University, took the CIS male athlete of the week honour. Stanley, a fourth-year business administration student from Charlottetown, scored both goals in a 2-0 win over Dalhousie on Friday and tallied again in a 1-0 win over Saint Marys on Sunday. http://www.fjallravenkankensverige.com/kanken-mini-ryggsack/fjallraven-kanken-rosa.html . The traditional pre-Masters event was halted early due to inclement weather. Harrington, who tied for first in 2003 and won in 2004, became the first three-time champion of the event. Kånken Ryggsäck No 2 . Team officials travelled to Los Angeles on Thursday night to meet with the free agent, a person with knowledge of the plans said. Fjällräven Kånken Ryggsäck Rea . Next up, the Baltimore Ravens, Cincinnati Bengals, Pittsburgh Steelers, and Cleveland Browns in the AFC North. Baltimore Ravens In 2014, the 8-8 season that the Baltimore Ravens experienced was to be expected.Charlottesville, VA (SportsNetwork.com) - Anthony Gill amassed career bests of 25 points and 13 rebounds, helping third-ranked Virginia survive a challenge from Davidson and come through with an 83-72 victory. Nineteen of Gills points came in the second half as the Cavaliers (12-0) overcame an early 12-point deficit to achieve their first 12-0 start since 1981-82. Malcolm Brogdon added 16 points and Darion Atkins had 13 along with 10 rebounds in a game in which Virginia trailed with under 11 1/2 minutes left before eventually pulling away. Davidson (9-2), averaging a Division-I best 87.7 points per game coming in, received 21 points from Jack Gibbs and a 20-point, seven-rebound effort from Tyler Kalinoski. The Wildcats had won seven straight since a 90-72 loss to North Carolina in Charlotte on Nov. 22, and gave Virginia all it could handle for much of the contest until ultimately running out of steam. When (Virginia) got their offense running and got the crowd into it, their defense was clicking more, especially in the second half, said Kalinoski. I thought we had great looks, but they just werent going down for us. Davidson owned a 52-51 edge following Brian Sullivans 3-pointer with 11:21 to play, but Virginia answered with a 12-3 run and continued to separate from the Wildcats the rest of the way. Justin Anderson buried triples on consecutive Cavalier possessions, the first breaking a 55-55 tie, before London Perrantes fed Atkins underneath to cap the spurt and stake UVA to a 63-55 lead. Those were significant, Cavaliers head coach Tony Bennett said of Andersons 3-pointers. Then our defense fed off the crowd and their energy and made them get some tough stops. Davidson drew within 67-61 with 6:19 left on another triple from Sullivan, but Gill scored on the Cavs next two trips down the court. His 3-point play with 3:06 remaining all but ended the Wildcats upset bid, putting Virginia up by a 78-65 count. The Cavaliers entered Tuesdays clash yiellding a nations best 46.dddddddddddd2 points per game, but Davidson came within striking distance of that number less than 15 minutes in behind the sharp shooting of Gibbs and Kalinoski. The duo combined to go 6-of-7 from 3-point range to begin the game, with both figuring into a 9-0 run that put the Wildcats up 17-9 with 13 1/2 minutes to go in the first half. Kalinoski and Gibbs knocked down back-to-back treys later in the period to increase the lead to 29-17, and Davidson owned a 34-22 cushion five minutes prior to the intermission. I thought our urgency and our alertness or awareness to start the game, and transition defense was very poor, Bennett said. Gibbs dominated and he got into the elbows and our bigs were going back and all you could see were the back of their heads. We told our guys all week that this will be one of the hardest offenses you will try to guard because they back it up with shooting and cutting. Virginia clamped down from that stage on, however, limiting the Wildcats to just one basket over the remainder of the half while concluding the frame on a 10-2 surge to trim the margin to 36-32 at the break. The Cavaliers regained the upper hand with a 6-0 run three minutes into the second half that gave them a 40-38 lead, and the game remained tight until Virginia seized control over the final 10 minutes. Game Notes Davidson shot 48.2 percent against a Cavalier defense that had held its first 11 opponents to 40 percent or under, including a 8-of-50 (16 percent) display by Harvard in Virginias last outing on Dec. 21 ... The Cavs also had allowed less than 70 points in their previous 17 games, the longest streak in the nation ... Anderson finished with 14 points, with Sullivan netting 14 for Davidson ... UVa has won eight straight meetings with the Wildcats ... Davidson fell to 1-20 against ranked teams since their run to the Elite Eight of the 2008 NCAA Tournament. ' ' '