INDIANAPOLIS, March 14 (UPI) -- Jonathan Bender scored a career-high 22 points and Erick Strickland added 19 and a career-high 11 assists Friday night as the Indiana Pacers snapped a six-game losing streak with a 101-81 triumph over the Utah Jazz, just their second victory in 14 games.
The dominating performance came without temperamental Ron Artest, who was handed an automatic one-game suspension by the NBA for picking up his seventh flagrant-foul point with a tackle of Philadelphia guard Eric Snow on Wednesday.
Artest also had to sit out Indiana's loss at Sacramento on Sunday for a flagrant foul on Portland's Bonzi Wells the previous day.
But the Pacers began the game with lots of intensity, going on a 15-1 run to take an early 17-5 lead.
Indiana had a 20-11 lead after one quarter and it was 21-14 before Austin Croshere hit a three-pointer, two free throws and a dunk to commence a 26-6 run. Ron Mercer capped the burst with a jumper that gave the Pacers their biggest lead, 47-20, with 3:36 left in the half.
Utah climbed within 49-29 at the break but got no closer than 16 points in the second half.
In a game where seemingly nothing went right for the Jazz, center Greg Ostertag was knocked out by an elbow from teammate Karl Malone while battling for a rebound with 4:40 left in the third quarter.
Malone scored 21 points to pace Utah, which shot just 38 percent from the field. Starting guards John Stockton and Calbert Cheaney scored just two points apiece.
Utah Coach Jerry Sloan rested stars Malone, Stockton and Matt Harpring for the fourth quarter with his team behind, 74-53.
The start of the fourth quarter was delayed about 10 minutes following a scary incident in which an on-court entertainer landed awkwardly on his neck after trying a dunk off a trampoline.
The young man was wheeled off the court on a stretcher but waved to the crowd to indicate he had movement in his upper body.
