George Washington beats UMass 87-65 with red-hot shooting

Mar 7, 2015, 08:19 pm

WASHINGTON -- Yuta Watanabe, a 6-foot-8 freshman from Tokyo who hadn't reached double-digit scoring since early January, poured in a career-high 21 points on seven 3-point shots as George Washington belted Massachusetts 87-65 in a season finale on Saturday.

George Washington (20-11, 10-8 Atlantic 10) led 50-28 at halftime, making 10 of its last 12 shots for a 22-6 run. The win is George Washington's third in its last four games and claims the sixth seed in the A-10 tournament.

Watanabe attempted only 3-pointers, hitting seven of 10. The Colonials hit 14 of 18 3-point shots, including 9 of 10 in the breakaway first half, and shot 60 percent from the field in all (30 of 50).

A 3-pointer by Jabarie Hinds with 5:09 left got UMass (17-14, 10-8) to 49 points, one shy of George Washington's halftime total. Donte Clark led with 12 points for the Minutemen, who are a likely No. 8 seed.