<p>OKLAHOMA CITY — Jalen McDaniels had a career-high 21 points in his second career start to help the Charlotte Hornets beat the Oklahoma City Thunder 113-102 on Wednesday night.</p>
<p>McDaniels also had six rebounds and three assists. Terry Rozier scored 17 points, Miles Bridges had 16 and Devonte’ Garaham and Cody Zeller added 15 each, and Zeller had14 rebounds.</p>
<p>Aleksej Pokusevski led the Thunder with a career-high 25 points behind a franchise rookie-record seven 3-pointers. Theo Maledon also had 25 points.</p>
<p>Charlotte’s 11-point victory followed its most lopsided loss of the season, a 116-86 drubbing to the Boston Celtics on Sunday.</p>
<p>The Hornets held the Thunder scoreless for nearly the first four minutes, jumping out to an 8-0 lead and briefly took a 10-point advantage in the opening frame. The early surge prompted Oklahoma City to call a timeout and collected itself to outscore the Hornets 21-14 in the final 5:47 of the period.</p>
<p>Stabilized by Pokusevski’s career night from beyond the arc, the Thunder pulled ahead of the Hornets in the second quarter. A difficult defensive night from Oklahoma City, especially in the interior, led to Charlotte regaining control and taking a 56-51 lead at the break.</p>
<p>McDaniels, who made 6 of 9 shots from the floor in the second half, helped the Hornets maintain their lead and pick up their third victory of a six-game road swing.</p>
<p>The Thunder</p>
<p>TIP-INS</p>
<p>Hornets: LaMelo Ball (right wrist), Gordon Hayward (right foot) and Malik Monk (right ankle) were unavailable. … Charlotte improved to 13-15 on the road. … The Hornets scored 22 second-chance points to the Thunder’s four.</p>
<p>Thunder: The Thunder have lost four consecutive games to start the month of April. … Darius Bazley (left shoulder), Luguentz Dort (concussion protocol), Shai Gilgeous-Alexander (right foot), Josh Hall (concussion protocol), Mike Muscala (right ankle) and Isaiah Roby (concussion protocol) missed Tuesday’s game.</p>
<p>UP NEXT</p>
<p>Hornets: At Milwaukee on Friday night.</p>
<p>Thunder: Host Cleveland on Friday night.</p>
