TORONTO - Once he got going, no one could calm Jonas Valanciunas down, despite Kyle Lowrys best efforts. As Valanciunas was whistled for a rare technical toward the end of the third quarter - a result of waving his hand at an official after being called for a foul - Lowry pulled the Raptors sophomore aside, corralling him by his jersey and patting him on the back. "Youve got to be smart in certain situations," Lowry told the young centre. "I just tried to say look, you cant waste your money." "Yeah, he was trying to calm me down," Valanciunas said of the conversation with his point guard, speaking with a mischievous look on his face following the Raptors 98-91 win over the Cavaliers. "That technical foul cost me, so I feel bad now." He shouldnt. The tech will cost Valanciunas a small fraction of his next paycheque but the unbridled emotion he played with in the second half of Fridays game was the driving force of Torontos rapid turnaround. Valanciunas, like the rest of his team, got off to an ugly start. The Raptors were fortunate to be down by only five going into the break, scoring just 39 points in the first half and shooting 33 per cent from the field. For the third straight game coming out of the All-Star break, Valanciunas got a quick hook in the first quarter. The seven-footer has been strangely quiet of late, averaging under six points in four games entering Fridays contest. His minutes have been down, as hes battled growing pains on the defensive end. After being sent to the bench midway through the opening quarter, he sat for around 12 minutes of game time before re-entering. Somewhere, somehow, someone lit a fire under the sophomore and not only did it spark him, it ignited the whole team. Valanciunas was a possessed man coming out of the halftime break. He was aggressive on defence, manic on the boards and dominant down low. He ran the floor with a purpose, worked to establish position, then demanded the ball. As he turned to face up Clevelands Tyler Zeller midway through the third, he pump faked - not once, but twice - took the contact and drained the jumper. Before completing the three-point play, he pumped his fist in the air and yelled out to the crowd, or the Cavs, or his teammates, or whoever was listening. His face was as red as the logo at centre court. He meant business. "Hes going to have ups and downs but tonight he was intense," Lowry said of Valanciunas, who had 10 points and four rebounds in the third quarter, finishing the game with 18 points and eight boards. "He really kind of carried us with his intensity and his passion and fire tonight." The 21-year-olds inspired play lifted the Raptors in what turned out to be a game-deciding third quarter. Toronto scored 37 points in the frame - two fewer than its first-half total - and shot 70 per cent, turning a five-point deficit at intermission into an 11-point advantage going into the fourth. "Hes our enforcer in the paint," said Amir Johnson, who returned to the starting lineup Friday after coming off the bench in his two previous outings, nursing an ankle injury. "When he gets going, everybody else plays good and that just gets everybody open shots when hes scoring in the paint." Johnson also came to life in the second half, the two bigs even hooked up on an alley-oop lob - from Johnson to Valanciunas - late in game. "We had to give our bigs a wakeup call," Dwane Casey said. "They turned it around in the second half. We reminded them, theres more to the game than the offensive end." "You can do a lot of different things other than make shots," he continued, "and I thought the second half, Amir Johnson and JV worked at it and got it done." Although Valanciunas helped turn the game, the best Raptor on the night - from start to finish - was fellow sophomore Terrence Ross, hands down. Ross scored a team-high 20 points, shooting 9-for-18, but his most important contribution was on the defensive end, where he went toe-to-toe with All-Star Game MVP Kyrie Irving. When the game began, Ross was assigned to check former Raptor Jarrett Jack while Lowry defended Irving. Early in the first quarter, there was a switch and Ross ended up on the Cavs point guard and leading scorer. It stuck for the rest of the evening, and Ross did not disappoint. The Raptors forward used his length and athleticism to frustrate Irving, forcing him to launch tough perimeter jumpers, keeping him out of the paint and holding him to 3-of-16 shooting. "He can score in a lot of different ways [and] get his teammates involved," Ross said of Irving, who ended up with 17 points and nine assists for Cleveland. "So if you slow him down, you slow the team down." "He had to chase [Irving] everywhere," Johnson said of Ross. "He chased him off screens, he didnt quit on plays and thats how you have to play a guy like that. [Irvings] so crafty and hes always moving so you just have to keep a body on him and stay in front of him. [Ross] did a great job." It was Canada Basketball Night at the Air Canada Centre Friday, as local product and first overall pick Anthony Bennett made his NBA debut in Toronto. Bennett, who continues to improve after a slow start to the season, knocked down his first two shots and finished with nine points in 15 minute of action while fellow Canadian Tristan Thompson scored 13 to go along with nine boards. In snapping Clevelands six-game winning streak, the Raptors picked up their 30th win of the campaign, doing so in just 55 games. It took them 78 contests to reach the 30-win mark a year ago. Fake Soccer Jerseys . 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In Sundays derby, Lazio took the lead in the seventh minute after Maarten Stekelenburg brought down Klose, resulting in the Roma goalkeeper being sent off and a penalty that Hernanes converted.A recent impromptu brawl between rival coaches Chael Sonnen and Wanderlei (The Axe Murderer) Silva on the TV set of "The Ultimate Fighter: Brazil" had MMA fans rushing to find the video. Not (Rowdy) Ronda Rousey. The UFC womens bantamweight champion, who was a coach on Season 18, has no time for the reality TV show these days. "I dont watch The Ultimate Fighter now that I know how much bull is in it," said Rousey, adding an extra syllable to bull. "I dont support it." "I used to watch it all the time. Now I wont watch it," she added. Rousey said she was turned off "by the blatant disrespect the production had for the athletes." The series which debuted in 2005, is produced by Pilgrim Studios which specializes in reality TV. "They dont know the first thing about fighting," said Rousey. "They only know about reality TV and they treated us like we were Real Housewives of Atlanta and not elite athletes that should be respected. "And I dont support people like that so I dont watch the show anymore." The UFC acknowledged its womens champion had not enjoyed her experience on the program. "Its no secret that Ronda didnt have a good time on The Ultimate Fighter," UFC president Dana White said in a statement provided when The Canadian Press asked for a response from the show producers to Rouseys comments. "When youre on a reality show and youre caught up in the moment, and you do things and you say things without thinking, ssometimes when it airs, youre not 100 per cent thrilled with the way you acted or the way you looked.dddddddddddd Its happened to me too. Its part of reality television. "Not everyone is crazy with reality TV and its no secret that Ronda butted heads with people in production and on the show. You cant change her mind, thats the way she feels." White also defended the reality TV show, which has spawned spinoffs in Canada, Australia, Brazil, China, Mexico and the United Kingdom. Filming for the latest season takes place this month. "This is the 20th season of The Ultimate Fighter and for many fighters it was an amazing experience, it changed their lives," White said." Not just for the fighters competing on The Ultimate Fighter, but for the coaches too. "The show took Chuck Liddell to the next level, Matt Hughes to the next level, B.J. Penn to the next level. A large number of the superstars of the UFC blew up after being on The Ultimate Fighter. Its not going to be an amazing experience for everybody. Every season fighters have different experiences on the show, and theyre not always good. Thats part of reality television." The UFC conceived the show as a way to get its product on TV. Aspiring UFC fighters spend six weeks in a house together, denied access to the outside world other than to train and fight. With established UFC fighters serving as coaches, the cast members compete against each other with the last man or woman standing earning a UFC contract. ' ' '