TORONTO -- The only time the Toronto Raptors looked like winners in a see-saw game Friday was in the final four minutes of the fourth quarter.

Who could have known that when forward Marvin Williams hit a 3-pointer with 4:45 remaining to tie the game at 94 and give him 17 points that it would be the end of the scoring for the Hornets?

Point guard Kyle Lowry made a step-back jumper for 3 points that put the Raptors into the lead with 3:28 to play and they were on their way to a 104-94 victory.

"Our defense was solid in the fourth quarter," Raptors coach Dwane Casey said. "The first half, I didn't recognize some of the straight line drives they were making. They were going by us way too easily, but we shortened up down the stretch."

The Raptors trailed by eight points after three quarters, but dominated the fourth quarter to win their second game in a row.

"We did a lot of good things," Hornets coach Steve Clifford said. "They are a good team and it's on the road. We were right there. I mean we should have been up eight, 10, 12 at the end of the third."

The Raptors outrebounded the Hornets 16-7 in the fourth quarter, 35-19 in the second half and 54-43 on the game.

"The other part is it takes away your spirit when you are defending, defending, defending and they are getting rebounds," Clifford said.

"The second half, they absolutely punished us on the glass," Williams said. "I think that is where the game was lost. I think we played hard up until that point but they just wanted it a little more than we did."

Guard DeMar DeRozan led the Raptors (21-13) with 23 points and was 7-for-7 from the free-point line.

"We finally got into a rhythm, got a couple of stops and that's all we needed," DeRozan said. "We had a couple of possessions where we were going back-and-forth and they were scoring. We just understood if we got some stops and some big buckets we could be right back in the game and we would be able to take the lead."

Lowry added 18 points and dished out 11 assists for the Raptors while center Jonas Valanciunas grabbed 13 rebounds and scored 10 points. Forwards DeMarre Carroll and Patrick Patterson chipped in with 14 points each and reserve center Bismack Biyombo nabbed 11 rebounds and scored six points for Toronto.

Guard Kemba Walker scored 18 points to lead the injury depleted Hornets (17-15), who have lost two in a row.

Center Cody Zeller added 15 points and nine rebounds for Charlotte, while guard Nicolas Batum had 14 points and center Frank Kaminsky chipped in with 13 points.

DeRozan scored 12 points in the first quarter as the Raptors took a 29-28 lead. There were six lead changes in the quarter and the game was tied five times. Zeller led Charlotte with seven points.

Batum's 3-pointer gave Charlotte a 44-40 lead with 6:43 to play in the first half but the score was 55-55 at the intermission. There were six more lead changes in the second quarter, in which the score was tied 10 times. DeRozan had 19 half-time points. Williams, Batum and Kaminsky had nine points each in the half for the Hornets.

The Hornets scored the first seven points of the third quarter, five by Walker. The Raptors tied the game with 6:53 to play in the third on five straight points by Carroll. The Hornets took a nine-point lead on a pull-up jumper by Kaminsky with 1:03 left in the third.

"I think we did not start the second half the right way," Biyombo said. "And then we had to fight our way back into the game. We have to learn from that and correct our mistakes and move on."

The Hornets took an 82-74 lead into the fourth quarter.

Toronto scored the first eight points of the fourth, tying the game at 82 on Patterson's 3-pointer. Lowry's 3-pointer gave Toronto an 87-84 lead.

Forward Terrence Ross hit a 3-pointer with 6:15 to play and the Raptors led by six points.

Williams struck for two straight 3-pointers create the 19th and final tie of a game that had 14 lead changes,

"Offensive rebounds really hurt us tonight," Walker said. "They had a bunch of points off offensive rebounds."

NOTES: Charlotte C Al Jefferson (right knee) underwent arthroscopic surgery on Thursday for a torn lateral meniscus. He is expected to miss six weeks. ... Hornets G Jeremy Lin (sprained right ankle) missed his second straight game on Friday and F/C Spencer Hawes (tight lower back) missed his fourth consecutive game. G Nicolas Batum (sprained right toe), a game-time decision, was able to start. ... Toronto recalled G Delon Wright on Friday from the Raptors 905 of the NBA D-League. Toronto F Anthony Bennett (sore lower back) and G Norman Powell were inactive on Friday. ... Charlotte beat Toronto 109-99 in overtime on Dec. 17 at Time Warner Cable Arena in the first meeting this season. ... Toronto C Bismack Biyombo was a first-round pick (seventh overall) in 2011 by Charlotte. ... The Raptors play their next game on Sunday when the Chicago Bulls visit Air Canada Centre. The Hornets are home to the Oklahoma Thunder on Saturday.