Sixers survive vs. Bucks

Philadelphia - Lou Williams came off the bench to score 25 points, including a three-pointer with 43.8 seconds left that proved to be the difference, as the Sixers survived in a 95-94 win over the Milwaukee Bucks.

Andre Iguodala,, in just his second game back after missing seven contests with an injured right Achilles, and Elton Brand both chipped in with 15 points as Philadelphia snapped a two-game skid and won for the first time this season in a game decided by four points or less. Entering tonight the Sixers were 0-7 in such games.

Jrue Holiday finished with 10 points and five boards for the 76ers, who dumped the Bucks for the ninth time in 11 meetings.

Cory Maggette led a balanced Milwaukee attack with 16 points off the bench. Ersan Ilyasova netted 14 points while former Sixer John Salmons, Keyon Dooling and Drew Gooden each had 12.

Andrew Bogut chipped in with a double-double of 10 points and 12 rebounds, while the diminutive Earl Boykins had a season-high 11 assists to go along with eight points.

The game was deadlocked at 92 when Maggette's running jumper with 2:29 to play put the Bucks in front.

Maggette then blocked Iguodala's jumper at the other end but Boykins and Gooden each missed three-pointers before Milwaukee was called for a shot clock violation.

Philadelphia got the ball back with 57.9 ticks to go when Williams stepped back to bury a shot from beyond the arc to give the Sixers a 95-94 edge with 43.8 seconds remaining.

The 76ers had a chance to add to their margin after Salmons missed a jumper. Williams, though, turned the ball over, and the Bucks took a timeout with 11.1 ticks left on the clock.

Maggette's jumper from in close was blocked by Iguodala. He recoved, however, and dished to the corner for Boykins, whose three-pointer was off the mark as time expired.

"We were just trying to get [Maggette] to drive to the right," Bucks coach Scott Skiles said. "You know they had a foul to give. We thought maybe they'd take the foul early, and we had a back-up plan to take it to the side. Unfortunately, we just got a loose ball, picked it up, and we still got a wide open, good three-point shot at the buzzer. Just couldn't get it."

"It hurts, it hurts because we battled, we fought back," Gooden added. "We dug ourselves a hole but we crawled back and we were up. Louis Williams hit a good shot. We couldn't come back and execute."

Six Shots:

*Sixers first half shooting (20-of-32, 62.5 percent) was their best shooting half of the season.

*Philly is 4-1 when Williams scores 20-or-more points.

*Williams leads all NBA reserves with 181 free throws attempted on the season.