PORTLAND, Ore. -- The Toronto Raptors own the top-rated offense in the NBA, but it was their defense that carried them to a 95-91 victory over the Portland Trail Blazers on Monday night at Moda Center.

The Raptors (22-8) shot a season-low 33.7 percent from the field, but they held the Trail Blazers nearly 18 points below their season scoring average to gain their fourth straight victory and 14th in the past 16 outings.

"We've done it before," said Toronto's DeMar DeRozan, who contributed 20 points, 10 rebounds and seven assists to the triumph. "That's the great thing about being able to rely on defense -- we're still able to win if we're not making shots. We played defense the whole fourth quarter, and that's what saved us."

Toronto held the Blazers (13-20) to nine points over the final seven minutes.

"We found a way to win," Raptors coach Dwane Casey said. "A few years ago, we would have kicked that one by about 15 or 20 (points)."

Kyle Lowry scored 27 points, Patrick Patterson added 15 points and eight rebounds, and Jonas Valanciunas collected 12 points and 12 boards for Toronto.

CJ McCollum scored 29 points and handed out seven assists for the Blazers, who lost for the sixth time in a row and the 10th time in 11 contests. Mason Plumlee had 13 points and 15 boards for the losers.

"It was a really good effort by our guys," Portland coach Terry Stotts said. "It might have been our best defensive game of the season, and against an excellent offensive team. We played with lots of energy. As much as we hate to lose games, you appreciate hard work."

Toronto held Portland to 42.2 percent shooting and forced 18 turnovers that resulted in 16 points.

"This was like a five-years-ago Toronto Raptors win," Lowry said. "All defense and barely any offense. But it was a good win for us. We didn't score, but it's good to find different ways to win games."

McCollum scored 10 points as the Blazers took a 24-21 lead into the second quarter. The Raptors were 0 of 7 from 3-point range through the first 12 minutes. DeRozan had 14 points and Valanciunas added 10 to lift Toronto to a 43-42 lead at halftime. McCollum scored 14 and Plumlee had nine points and eight rebounds for Portland at the break.

McCollum added six points and seven assists in the third quarter, but Lowry tallied 11 points in the quarter, and Toronto carried a 73-68 advantage into the final period.

Portland outscored the Raptors 14-6 to take an 82-79 lead. Toronto answered with a 7-0 run to go ahead 86-82 with five minutes remaining.

McCollum's driving layup sliced the difference to 86-84, but Lowry buried a 3-pointer to make it 89-84 with 3:15 left. McCollum hit a jumper to trim the margin to 89-86 with 2:51 to go.

Toronto's Cory Joseph scored on a goaltending call to up the lead to 91-86 with 2:11 to play. Neither team scored again until McCollum knocked down a trey with 59 seconds remaining.

Joseph sank a pair at the line with 16.2 seconds left to make it 93-89. McCollum answered with two foul shots to cut it to 93-91 with 11.4 seconds on the clock.

DeRozan knocked down two at the line for a 95-91 Toronto lead with 11.0 seconds to go, wrapping up the scoring.

"We were physical in that fourth quarter," DeRozan said. "We were forcing them to miss and limiting second-chance points. We got every rebound that came off long shots, and it gave us an opportunity to keep the game in our favor."

NOTES: Portland G Damian Lillard (ankle) missed a game for the first time this season. Lillard scored 50 points when he last faced the Raptors in March, one point shy of his career high. ... Toronto entered the game ranked second in the NBA in field-goal percentage and third in scoring, free-throw percentage and 3-point percentage. ... Portland F Evan Turner (ankle) returned after missing the previous three games. He collected nine points and five rebounds in 27 minutes off the bench. ... This was the second stop on a six-game road trip for Toronto, which plays at Golden State on Wednesday. ... Portland fell for just the fourth time in its past 16 meetings with Toronto, but the Raptors swept both games from the Blazers last season, the first time that happened since the 1996-97 season. ... The Blazers play host to the Sacramento Kings on Wednesday.