ORLANDO, Fla.(AP) -- It was only an exhibition game, but Marcin
Gortat gave the Orlando Magic reason to believe they made a good
decision to bring him back this season.

Gortat, a free agent last summer, had 14 points, 14 rebounds and
six blocked shots to help the Magic beat the Houston Rockets
113-104 on Friday night.

Rashard Lewis scored 22 points and Vince Carter had 19 as
Orlando improved to 3-0 in the exhibition season.

Gortat played 36 minutes while All-Star center Dwight Howard
rested. The third-year pro from Poland had 11 points, three
rebounds and five blocks in the fourth quarter when Orlando
outscored Houston 37-26.

"I thought Marcin was terrific, especially in that fourth
quarter," Magic coach Stan Van Gundy said. "When his mindset is
to play with great energy, defend hard and rebound, he's a very
good player and he did that for us in the fourth quarter."

Gortat signed as a restricted free agent with Dallas, but the
Magic matched the offer and brought him back to play behind
Howard.

"It's tough to battle Dwight for minutes, but I feel like I'm
one of the best centers in this league and I have to play more
games like this to prove it," Gortat said.

Houston got 59 points from its four backcourt players, but not
much from anyone else. The Rockets rested most of their key
players, including Luis Scola, Tracy McGrady, Shane Battier and
Brent Barry.

Chase Budinger led Houston with 17 points. Aaron Brooks, Kyle
Lowry and rookie Jermaine Taylor had 14 each. The Rockets
rallied from 17 points down in the first quarter to take a 78-76
lead into the final period, but couldn't sustain it.

"I thought after the first quarter, we competed hard and got
back in the game, but we can't let the other team have more
energy and play harder than us," Houston coach Rick Adelman
said.

The Magic went on a 14-4 run in the first 4 minutes of the
fourth quarter to take control of a game they nearly let slip
away in the third quarter. Gortat dunked a pass from J.J. Redick
to give Orlando a 90-82 lead with 8 minutes to go and the Magic
were able to remain in control the rest of the game.

Houston scored 35 points in the third period, its most
productive quarter in the exhibition season, to take its only
lead of the game. Trevor Ariza, who hit only one of six shots in
the first half, scored 10 points in the period, including two
3-pointers. Brooks hit consecutive 3s to draw the Rockets even
at 72-72 and Houston held a 78-76 lead by the end of the period.

The Magic missed their first six shots of the game, but still
managed to build as much as a 17-point lead in the first quarter
with Carter and Ryan Anderson supplying most of the offense.
Carter had 11 19 points in the period, while Anderson hit two
3-pointers and scored eight of his 12 points. Carter's dunk put
the Magic up 29-12 with 1:40 left in the period.

The offense came to a grinding halt in the second quarter when
the Magic turned the game over to the reserves and went 4 of 14
from the field. They scored more points from the free throw line
(12) than from the field in the quarter.

The Rockets, meanwhile, struggled to get on track offensively.
With so many new faces in the lineup, their offense was almost
exclusively one-on-one efforts. Houston didn't have an assist in
the first quarter and had only three at halftime while shooting
14 of 39 (35.9 percent) from the field.