CHARLOTTE, N.C. — Gerald Wallace scored 17 of his career-high 42 points in the fourth quarter and the Charlotte Bobcats pulled away from cold-shooting New York for a 104–87 victory over the Knicks last night.

Wallace hit a 3-pointer, a free throw and had a thunderous dunk in an 8–0 run that put Charlotte ahead 97–82 with 2:44 left. He made 14 of 22 shots and 11 of 17 free throws, besting his previous career-best night by a point.

Raymond Felton added 16 points and 10 assists, including two alleyoop feeds to Wallace, as the Bobcats won for the 12th time in 19 games.

Jamal Crawford scored 28 points for the Knicks, who went more than 11 minutes without a field goal bridging the third and fourth quarters.

The Knicks, who cut a 15-point third-quarter deficit to four, missed 11 straight shots to start the fourth quarter until Eddy Curry‘s meaningless half-hook with 1:54 left.

Curry, who had 12 points after the first quarter, missed his next seven shots and ended up with only 15 for the Knicks, who shot 36 percent for the game and 1-for-13 in the final quarter.

The Knicks also couldn’t contain the athletic Wallace, despite switching a variety of players on him and playing zone. They lost to Charlotte for the fifth time in the past six meetings.

The Bobcats opened the second half on a 17–5 run to open a 15-point lead. Wallace and Derek Anderson hit 3-pointers in the spurt and Emeka Okafor, limited to 12 minutes in the first half due to foul trouble, had consecutive putbacks.

The Knicks, who missed 11 of their first 13 shots in the second half, turned things around when they switched to a zone defense. Charlotte, which has struggled against zones in the past month, starting settling for outside shots and the Knicks got back in it.

Crawford hit a 3-pointer and had a three-point play in a 13–2 run that got New York within four late in the third quarter, but the Knicks’ cold streak soon started.

Jared Jeffries, getting his second start in place of Quentin Richardson (sprained right elbow), had just four points on 1-of-5 shooting. Stephon Marbury was held to seven points on 1-of-7 shooting as the Knicks couldn’t take advantage of Charlotte’s numerous injuries.

The Bobcats played with only 11 healthy players with Brevin Knight (abdominal surgery), Primoz Brezec ( back), Sean May (knee), and Othella Harrington (knee surgery) sidelined.

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PISTONS 113, NETS 89 Richard Hamilton scored 24 points and the Detroit Pistons set a team record by making 27 consecutive free throws in a 113–89 victory over the Nets last night.

Chauncey Billups added 18 points, including 12 on perfect shooting from the free throw line, and Chris Webber had 17 as the Pistons won for the fifth time in seven games and snapped the Nets’ two-game winning streak. Jason Maxiell had 16 and Antonio McDyess had eight points and 12 rebounds.

Detroit, which shot 54% from the field, finished 33-of-38 from the free throw line.

The Pistons’ old record for consecutive free throws was 26, set against the Kansas City Kings on March 23, 1976. Detroit broke the record by making its first 27 attempts against New Jersey.