Kings 109, Wizards 86: Rudy Gay scored 26 points to continue his hot month and Sacramento upset visiting Washington.

DeMarcus Cousins returned after missing two games with a right calf strain and finished with 20 points, seven rebounds and five assists for the Kings, who have won two in a row for the first time since November. Ben McLemore added 17 points and four steals and Omri Casspi remained in the starting lineup at small forward and contributed 14 points and five assists.

Bradley Beal scored 17 of his 19 points in the first half for Washington, which has lost two in a row following a five-game winning streak to fall 1 1/2 games behind the fourth-place Chicago Bulls in the East. Nene added 11 points, Drew Gooden scored 10 off the bench and John Wall, who had 31 points and 12 assists when the Wizards beat the visiting Kings by 16 points last weekend, finished with nine points and eight assists.

The Kings used a 9-1 run to move ahead for good at 28-21 and Sacramento maintained a five-point edge at the end of the opening quarter. The Wizards got as close as one in the second frame before the Kings extended the lead to as much as nine before taking a 57-50 advantage into the locker room.

Sacramento scored on its first four possessions of the second half in an 8-2 run to push the lead into double digits for the first time. The Kings continued to pull away in the third quarter, shooting 11-for-18 from the floor in that span to take a 20-point lead into the fourth.

GAME NOTEBOOK: Gay came in averaging 25.4 points in 10 games this month. … The Kings are 6-11 since George Karl took over as coach on Feb. 17. … The 23-point win is the largest margin of victory at home for Sacramento this season.