Rhode Island holds on to beat George Washington 59-55

KINGSTON, R.I. (AP) Jared Terrell scored 17 points, seven in the final five minutes, and had a career-high six steals to help Rhode Island hold on and beat George Washington 59-55 on Saturday.

Hassan Martin added 15 points with 10 rebounds for Rhode Island (15-5, 7-2 Atlantic 10), which pulled within a half-game of conference leader Virginia Commonwealth (17-4, 7-1).

George Washington used a 23-9 run, overcoming an 11-point deficit to take a 48-43 lead with 5:27 to play. Terrell answered, scoring seven of the Ram's next nine points to take a 52-50 lead with 3:44 remaining.

The game went nearly 3 minutes without a score before Rhode Island's T.J. Buchanan made a pair of free throws to make it 54-50. The Rams made 5 of 6 free throws down the stretch, and finished 20 of 22 from the line, to seal it.

Kevin Larsen scored 15 points for George Washington (16-6, 6-3).