Murphy's 34 points and Bey's clutch play push the Pelicans past the Nets, 116-113

NEW ORLEANS (AP) — Trey Murphy III scored 34 points, Saddiq Bey made a tying 3-pointer, converted an offensive rebound into a dunk and hit two free throws in the final 1:04, and the New Orleans Pelicans edged the Brooklyn Nets 116-113 on Wednesday night.

Zion Williamson had 25 points for New Orleans, which won for just the second time in 13 games. Yves Missi contributed 12 points and 12 rebounds, nine on the offensive end to help the Pelicans finish with 33 second-chance points.

Egor Demin scored 17 points and hit five 3s, the last of them giving the Nets a 110-107 lead with 1:28 to go. Bey responded with his 3 to tie it as the shot clock was about to expire. His dunk came after he grabbed a long rebound on Murphy's missed deep 3, and his free throws came with 5 seconds left after he was fouled intentionally.

Bey finished with 12 points.

Michael Porter Jr., who scored 20 points for the Nets, gained possession in the final seconds after a scramble for a loose ball near midcourt and let go a desperation heave that missed as the horn sounded.

Drake Powell had 16 points while Day'Ron Sharpe added 15 points and nine rebounds for Brooklyn, which lost for the eighth time in nine games.

Demin hit four of his first five 3-point shots and the Nets led by 12 early.

New Orleans chipped away and trailed just 55-54 after Williamson's layup closed out the scoring in the first half. The game was tied at 87 through three quarters.

The Pelicans entered with an NBA-worst opponent shooting percentage of 50.5 in the fourth quarter. The Nets scored the first seven points of the final period on their first three shots, prompting New Orleans coach James Borrego to call a timeout.

New Orleans responded soon after with an 15-4 run, during which Murphy scored nine points and assisted on Karlo Matkovic's dunk, setting up the tight finish.

Nets: Host the Chicago Bulls on Friday.

Pelicans: Visit the Indiana Pacers on Friday.

AP NBA: https://apnews.com/hub/nba

Brooklyn Nets forward Michael Porter Jr. (17) shoots between New Orleans Pelicans center Yves Missi (21) and forward Karlo Matkovic (17) in the first half of an NBA basketball game, Wednesday, Jan. 14, 2026, in New Orleans. (AP Photo/Gerald Herbert)

New Orleans Pelicans forward Zion Williamson (1) goes to the basket against Brooklyn Nets forward Noah Clowney (21) in the first half of an NBA basketball game, Wednesday, Jan. 14, 2026, in New Orleans. (AP Photo/Gerald Herbert)

New Orleans Pelicans guard Saddiq Bey (41) battles against Brooklyn Nets forward Michael Porter Jr. (17) in the first half of an NBA basketball game, Wednesday, Jan. 14, 2026, in New Orleans. (AP Photo/Gerald Herbert)

New Orleans Pelicans forward Trey Murphy III (25) dribbles against Brooklyn Nets guard Cam Thomas (24) in the first half of an NBA basketball game, Wednesday, Jan. 14, 2026, in New Orleans. (AP Photo/Gerald Herbert)

New Orleans Pelicans guard Saddiq Bey (41) slam dunks for the go-ahead basket in the final minute of the second half of an NBA basketball game against the Brooklyn Nets, Wednesday, Jan. 14, 2026, in New Orleans. (AP Photo/Gerald Herbert)

THE HAGUE, Netherlands (AP) — Myanmar insisted Friday that its deadly military campaign against the Rohingya ethnic minority was a legitimate counter-terrorism operation and did not amount to genocide, as it defended itself at the top United Nations court against an allegation of breaching the genocide convention.

Myanmar launched the campaign in Rakhine state in 2017 after an attack by a Rohingya insurgent group. Security forces were accused of mass rapes, killings and torching thousands of homes as more than 700,000 Rohingya fled into neighboring Bangladesh.

“Myanmar was not obliged to remain idle and allow terrorists to have free reign of northern Rakhine state,” the country’s representative Ko Ko Hlaing told black-robed judges at the International Court of Justice.

African nation Gambia brought a case at the court in 2019 alleging that Myanmar's military actions amount to a breach of the Genocide Convention that was drawn up in the aftermath of World War II and the Holocaust.

Some 1.2 million members of the Rohingya minority are still languishing in chaotic, overcrowded camps in Bangladesh, where armed groups recruit children and girls as young as 12 are forced into prostitution. The sudden and severe foreign aid cuts imposed last year by U.S. President Donald Trump shuttered thousands of the camps’ schools and have caused children to starve to death.

Buddhist-majority Myanmar has long considered the Rohingya Muslim minority to be “Bengalis” from Bangladesh even though their families have lived in the country for generations. Nearly all have been denied citizenship since 1982.

As hearings opened Monday, Gambian Justice Minister Dawda Jallow said his nation filed the case after the Rohingya “endured decades of appalling persecution, and years of dehumanizing propaganda. This culminated in the savage, genocidal ‘clearance operations’ of 2016 and 2017, which were followed by continued genocidal policies meant to erase their existence in Myanmar.”

Hlaing disputed the evidence Gambia cited in its case, including the findings of an international fact-finding mission set up by the U.N.'s Human Rights Council.

“Myanmar’s position is that the Gambia has failed to meet its burden of proof," he said. "This case will be decided on the basis of proven facts, not unsubstantiated allegations. Emotional anguish and blurry factual pictures are not a substitute for rigorous presentation of facts.”

Nobel Peace Prize winner Aung San Suu Kyi represented her country at jurisdiction hearings in the case in 2019, denying that Myanmar armed forces committed genocide and instead casting the mass exodus of Rohingya people from the country she led as an unfortunate result of a battle with insurgents.

The pro-democracy icon is now in prison after being convicted of what her supporters call trumped-up charges after a military takeover of power.

Myanmar contested the court’s jurisdiction, saying Gambia was not directly involved in the conflict and therefore could not initiate a case. Both countries are signatories to the genocide convention, and in 2022, judges rejected the argument, allowing the case to move forward.

Gambia rejects Myanmar's claims that it was combating terrorism, with Jallow telling judges on Monday that “genocidal intent is the only reasonable inference that can be drawn from Myanmar’s pattern of conduct.”

In late 2024, prosecutors at another Hague-based tribunal, the International Criminal Court, requested an arrest warrant for the head of Myanmar’s military regime for crimes committed against the country’s Rohingya Muslim minority. Senior Gen. Min Aung Hlaing, who seized power from Suu Kyi in 2021, is accused of crimes against humanity for the persecution of the Rohingya. The request is still pending.

FILE - In this Sept. 7, 2017, file photo, smoke rises from a burned house in Gawdu Zara village, northern Rakhine state, where the vast majority of the country's 1.1 million Rohingya lived, Myanmar. (AP Photo, File)