Cade Cunningham's 52 points help the Pistons outlast the Wizards 144-140 in double overtime

WASHINGTON (AP) — Cade Cunningham scored a career-high 52 points and had 11 assists, and the Detroit Pistons outlasted Washington 144-140 in double overtime Thursday night after the Wizards twice extended the game with last-second shots.

Trae Young's 3-pointer at the buzzer forced the first overtime, and then rookie AJ Dybantsa's midrange effort with less than a second left sent the teams to another OT. But Cunningham quickly made a 3-pointer, and then Anthony Davis fouled out to give Detroit the upper hand.

It was still a two-point game in the final minute, but Cunningham scored from the baseline to make it 142-138 with 25.3 seconds left. Washington has lost six straight.

Detroit's Ausar Thompson had 17 points, 11 rebounds and 11 assists for his first career triple-double.

Young had 37 points for the Wizards but shot just 8 of 23. Davis and Alex Sarr scored 30 each as the franchise had its first trio of 30-point scorers since Mike Davis, Earl Monroe and Gus Johnson for the Baltimore Bullets on Nov. 18, 1969.

Young had 14 assists, two more than Washington's whole team managed in a loss at Indiana the previous night.

Cunningham's previous career high was 46 points, just over a year ago — and also against Washington. He became the first NBA player with 50 points, 10 assists and no turnovers since the league began tracking turnovers in 1977-78, according to OptaSTATS.

Detroit beat the Wizards for the second time in four games. The Pistons overcame Davis' 44 points to win Monday, and Washington looked ready to end its skid when it scored the first seven points of the first overtime Thursday to lead 128-121. Then Cunningham rallied Detroit.

He finished 16 of 25 from the field and 17 of 18 on free throws. Daniss Jenkins scored 21 points for the Pistons before fouling out. Kyshawn George fouled out for the Wizards after scoring 14.

Sarr was 10 of 10 from the field in regulation and finished 12 of 14.

Pistons: At Miami on Saturday night.

Wizards: Host Houston on Sunday night.

See AP’s full NBA coverage here

Detroit Pistons guard Kevin Huerter (27) passes the ball against Washington Wizards center Alex Sarr during the first half of an NBA basketball game, Thursday, Nov. 12, 2026, in Washington. (AP Photo/John McDonnell)

Washington Wizards guard Trae Young (3) shoots against Detroit Pistons forward Duncan Robinson during the first half of an NBA basketball game, Thursday, Nov. 12, 2026, in Washington. (AP Photo/John McDonnell)

Detroit Pistons forward Ronald Holland II (5) blocks the shot of Washington Wizards guard Bilal Coulibaly during the first half of an NBA basketball game, Thursday, Nov. 12, 2026, in Washington. (AP Photo/John McDonnell)

Washington Wizards guard Trae Young (3) shoots during the first half of an NBA basketball game against the Detroit Pistons, Thursday, Nov. 12, 2026, in Washington. (AP Photo/John McDonnell)

Detroit Pistons forward Paul Reed (7) pulls down a rebound during the first half of an NBA basketball game against the Washington Wizards, Thursday, Nov. 12, 2026, in Washington. (AP Photo/John McDonnell)

WASHINGTON (AP) — The Associated Press on Wednesday declared Democrat Scott Colom the winner in the race for U.S. Senate in Mississippi after several counties reported updated results — including provisional ballots that are typically among the last to be counted.

Colom led Republican incumbent Sen. Cindy Hyde-Smith by 43 votes following the final election night update in Mississippi, which arrived at 3:03 a.m. ET Nov. 4 from Pike County. Not only has Colom’s lead grown larger as counties in Mississippi have completed their vote count and reported on the outcome of their review of provisional ballots in the days since, but he’s won the vast majority of these final updates — in every region of the state and in all but the most Republican counties — by a large margin. He won all 12 vote updates released by various counties throughout the state Wednesday.

The AP called the race for the Colom just before 6 p.m. ET Wednesday after officials in Jackson County updated their vote count with an additional 2,173 votes. The update put Colom up by 4,669 votes out of 962,237 counted, or 0.5 percentage points.

To come back and take the lead, Hyde-Smith needed to win these final vote updates in Republican-leaning counties such as Jackson. Instead, Colom won the update in Jackson by just over 1 percentage point.

Colom's victory was powered by his strong showing in the heavily Democratic Jackson and Delta areas. He leads there with more than 67% of the vote, the strongest performance in that region of any Democratic candidate for Senate, governor or president going back at least 10 years. He also was competitive in the Republican-friendly Northeast and Southeast, where Hyde-Smith trailed President Donald Trump's 2024 vote share by more than 10 percentage points.

The AP estimates there are fewer than 12,000 votes remaining for county election officials in Mississippi to review before the deadline Friday for counties to certify their election results. Many of those votes left to count are provisional ballots, which are called affidavit ballots in Mississippi, and a good number may not ultimately be counted once they are reviewed and assessed by election officials.

There is no recount law in Mississippi: Hyde-Smith would need to persuade a court to order a review of the election. She conceded the race Wednesday in a social media video after the AP called the race for Colom.

There have been about 40 recounts in statewide elections since 2000. Only three have resulted in a new winner and all three were decided by hundreds of votes, not thousands. There is no precedent this century for a recount overturning an election with a margin as wide as the one in Mississippi.

Colom's victory will give Democrats 55 Senate seats in the new Congress, a net gain of eight seats. It's the party's largest midterm gain in the chamber since 1986, when Democrats also picked up eight Senate seats in President Ronald Reagan's second term.

The last time Democrats held 55 Senate seats was in 2014, before losing the majority in that year's midterms.

__ AP writers Robert Yoon and Camille Baker contributed to this report.

This combination photo shows Mississippi candidates for U.S. Senate, incumbent Sen. Cindy Hyde-Smith, R-Miss., left, in Corinth, Miss., on Oct. 26, 2026, and Scott Colom in Jackson, Miss., Friday, Nov. 6, 2026. (AP Photo/Jacquelyn Martin, Ellen Schmidt)

Members of the Hinds County Resolution Board count absentee ballots for a final count, Wednesday, Nov. 11, 2026, at the Hinds County Election Commission in Jackson, Miss., as the U.S. Senate race between Democratic candidate Scott Colom and the incumbent Republican Sen. Cindy Hyde-Smith remains uncalled. (AP Photo/Ellen Schmidt)

Democratic candidate for U.S. Senate Scott Colom, right, runs into comedian Rita Brent during a campaign stop at record and comic store OffBeat, Friday, Nov. 6, 2026, in Jackson, Miss. (AP Photo/Ellen Schmidt)