The Charlotte Hornets defeated the Dallas Mavericks, 117-109, at American Airlines Center on Friday night.

The Hornets (24-51) unsurprisingly came into the contest as sizable underdogs, but they served notice early they had a spoiler mindset by jumping out to a 69-55 halftime lead. The Mavericks (36-38), which had plenty of postseason-related incentive coming in, made a six-point dent in their deficit during the third quarter, but Charlotte matched Dallas bucket for bucket during the last 12 minutes to record the upset victory.

P.J. Washington led the Hornets with 28 points, adding six rebounds, three assists, two steals and one block. Gordon Hayward furnished 25 points, nine assists and three rebounds. Dennis Smith and Mark Williams provided matching 13-point contributions while nine assists and eight rebounds, respectively. Smith also posted five boards. Svi Mykhailiuk matched his teammates' scoring tally and also turned in three rebounds and three assists. JT Thor offered 12 points, three rebounds, one assist, three steals and two blocks. Nick Richards generated a 10-point, 11-rebound double-double that included one assist.

Luka Doncic paced the Mavericks with a 34-point, 10-rebound double-double that included eight assists and one block. Kyrie Irving registered 18 points, nine rebounds, seven assists, one steal and one block. Christian Wood and Dwight Powell offered matching 14-point, two-assist efforts while posting six and five rebounds, respectively.

The two squads reconvene at Spectrum Center for a rematch Sunday afternoon.