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DENVER (AP) _ With their first play of the third quarter, the Denver Nuggets found Ron Mercer for an open 18-foot jumper.

Moments later, Mercer sank a 21-footer, and followed with a three-point play and a 3-point basket.

There was no stopping Mercer, who scored 20 points in the quarter to spark the Nuggets to a 110-98 victory over the Vancouver Grizzlies on Monday night, snapping Denver's six-game losing streak.

In a duel of teams with losing skids, the Grizzlies dropped their sixth straight game.

Mercer finished with 24 points, all in the second half. He also had six assists, four rebounds, a career-high three blocked shots and one steal.

``We did a better job of getting him the ball in the second half,'' Nuggets coach Dan Issel said. ``Ron hadn't scored, but he had only four shots in the first half.

``It's obvious he is a big part of our offense. The very first play in the second half we ran for him, and he took it from there. He was terrific.''

Mercer, the Nuggets' second-leading scorer with an 18.4 average, shrugged off his slow start.

``I just tried to forget the first half because I was out of rhythm and out of sync,'' he said. ``At the beginning of the second half, we started running plays for me and that's all I needed. One or two shots and I'm in a groove.''

Nick Van Exel added 18 points and nine assists, Raef LaFrentz had 17 points and 10 rebounds, and Antonio McDyess finished with 16 points.

Shareef Abdur-Rahim led Vancouver with 24 points and 13 rebounds. Mike Bibby contributed 18 points and nine assists.

Mercer connected on 8-of-11 shots in the third quarter as the Nuggets built a 10-point lead by the end of the period.

With LaFrentz and McDyess on the bench for most of the period with foul trouble, Mercer took control.

He scored 10 points in the first 4:52 of the quarter, making a three-point play for a 66-57 lead and then hitting a 3-pointer for a 69-59 lead with 7:08 left in the period. Mercer's fastbreak layup made it 84-71, and the Nuggets carried an 86-76 lead into the fourth quarter.

Vancouver got no closer than eight points after that.

LaFrentz scored eight points in the final period as Denver built a lead that reached 17 points on George McCloud's 3-pointer with 1:54 remaining.

Bibby said the Grizzlies ``played good defense on Mercer, but he made some good shots. He caught fire.''

Vancouver coach Lionel Hollins said when a player like Mercer ``gets on a roll like that, it's tough for anybody to guard him. When he starts making shots and he can take the ball to the basket as well as he can, he becomes a real factor to deal with.''

Hollins wasn't pleased with his second-half defense on any of the Nuggets.

``The whole second half we never really stopped them,'' he said.

The Nuggets also got 12 points from Popeye Jones, playing in only his fifth game of the season after a long stint on the injured list with a strained lower back.

``If Popeye can give us that every night, then we are going to be in great shape,'' Issel said. ``He gave us a tremendous lift. If he hadn't played like that, with the foul trouble we were in, we would have been in trouble.''

Denver lost backup point guard Chris Herren with a strained left knee midway through the second quarter. He was scheduled to have an MRI exam today.

Notes: The Grizzlies owners, Orca Bay Sports and Entertainment, reached agreement Monday to sell the team to Illinois businessman Michael Heisley. ... Mercer's 20 points in the third quarter were the most by a Denver player in a quarter this season. ... The Grizzlies' previous five losses all came at home. They had won their previous three road games. ... The Nuggets were 2-9 over their previous 11 games, allowing opponents to shoot 46 percent from 3-point range. Vancouver was 1-for-10 from 3-point range. ... The Grizzlies have lost five straight in Denver.