PHILADELPHIA -- The Philadelphia 76ers were playing with a skeleton crew Wednesday night, but it took the Toronto Raptors awhile to bury them.

Guard Kyle Lowry scored 23 points and forward Luis Scola added 17 of his season-high 21 in the pivotal third quarter, propelling the Raptors to a 119-103 victory over the short-handed Sixers.

"Give credit to team defense," said Scola, a 35-year-old from Argentina in his ninth NBA season.

The Raptors, who snapped a three-game losing streak, held the Sixers scoreless the first 5:29 of the third quarter, fueling an 11-0 flurry that stretched a six-point halftime lead to 17.

Toronto shot 61.9 percent from the field in the quarter and outscored Philadelphia 33-20 to assume a 96-77 lead entering the fourth quarter.

Scola, who began the night averaging 7.8 points, made 8 of 10 from the field in the quarter and scored more points than a Raptors player had in a quarter this season. He finished 10 of 15 from the floor.

"He's a veteran player," Raptors coach Dwane Casey said. "He has flashbacks every once in a while."

Scola said the Toronto defense led to easy fast-break opportunities, for him and everybody else.

"When you get running, you get easy shots," he said, "and your confidence builds."

It's nothing his teammates hadn't seen before.

"The way Luis plays, he’ll be able to play like that forever," Lowry said. "His motor is unmatchable, the way he gets up and down the floor. And when he’s making shots like he did tonight, it's always good."

Toronto, which led by as many as 21 points in the fourth quarter, had a season-high point total. The Raptors' 48.3 percent shooting from the field was also their best of the season.

"We've got to let our defense create our offense," said Lowry, a Philadelphia native who played at Villanova.

Lowry, who played before some 60 friends and family members, also had eight assists, and his 3-pointer at the first-half buzzer gave the Raptors a boost heading into the third quarter.

Guard Cory Joseph scored 15 points, forward DeMar DeRozan had 14 and center Jonas Valanciunas contributed 11 points and 12 rebounds for the Raptors.

Rookie center Jahlil Okafor scored 26 points to match his season high for Philadelphia, which fell to 0-8 and dropped its 18th straight dating to last season.

Guard/forward Hollis Thompson had 19 points and guard Isaiah Canaan 18 for the Sixers. Forward Jerami Grant contributed 12 points and a career-high 10 rebounds, his first career double-double.

Because of injuries, the Sixers had only nine players in uniform. Forward Nerlens Noel sat out his second straight game. He was listed as having soreness to both wrists, but coach Brett Brown said before the game that the pain is actually in the padding of Noel's right hand.

Forward Robert Covington also sat out his fifth straight game with a sprained right knee, and forward Richaun Holmes was unavailable after straining his right hamstring during pregame drills.

The Sixers hung around for a half but were dominated in the third quarter, a continuing trend. They have outscored just one of their first eight opponents in that quarter and on average are outscored 28-22.

"It's a problem, and we've talked about it before," Brown said. "We identified it three games ago. We can't arrest it. … I think some of it is teams are good and maybe they start focusing a little bit harder when we're competitive in the first half, but that's the sport, isn't it?”

Okafor scored 10 points in the first quarter when the Sixers shot 56.5 percent from the field and generated a season-high total for the quarter to take a 34-29 lead.

Philadelphia moved ahead by six early in the second quarter, but Toronto went on a 15-4 run to leapfrog in front 48-43. Joseph had five points then and reserve forward Norman Powell had four.

Lowry, whose last-second 3-pointer gave Toronto a 63-57 halftime lead, and DeRozan each scored 14 points in the first 24 minutes. Okafor piled up 16 points to lead the Sixers.

In the first half, Casey said, "I think we were a little emotionally drunk from the night before," a reference to a home loss to the Knicks.

NOTES: Toronto has beaten Philadelphia nine straight times. ... Sixers rookie point G T.J. McConnell had a season-high 13 assists. ... The 76ers announced before the game that G Tony Wroten and G Kendall Marshall, both recovering from knee surgery, were assigned to the Delaware 87ers, the team's Development League affiliate, though it is solely to continue their rehabilitation. They will not play in any games. Both players worked out with the Sevens on Wednesday, and are expected to do so again on Thursday. It is unclear what their schedule will be beyond that. ... The Raptors were without G/F Terrence Ross (thumb) and F DeMarre Carroll (plantar fasciitis). ... Philadelphia coach Brett Brown, who originally hoped to have F Robert Covington back from a sprained right knee Saturday in San Antonio, said that is no longer realistic.