Maureece Rice scored a game-high 27 points as visiting George Washington defeated Rhode Island, 82-78, yesterday for its fifth victory in a row.

George Washington (15-4, 6-1) snapped a four-game winning streak by Rhode Island (13-9, 6-2), which led by nine points with 8:21 left.

Rice's 3-pointer with 59 seconds remaining broke a 73-73 tie.

Rice, who went 10 for 10 at the free-throw line, made four free throws in the final 16.5 seconds to help fend off the Rams.

Carl Elliott finished with 18 points and six assists for George Washington.

Will Daniels and Jimmy Baron each finished with 17 points for Rhode Island. Kahiem Seawright and Parfait Bitee each scored 13 for the Rams.

Rhode Island held a 65-56 lead with 8:21 left after Joe Mbang scored on a jumper. Elliott made a 3-pointer with 5:02 left to pull GW within 66-65 and made another three with 4:06 remaining to tie the game, 68-68.

Other games

Xavier 83, Dayton 67: Justin Doellman scored seven of his 24 points in a 12-0 run to open the second half that put Xavier ahead for good as the host Musketeers rolled to win against Dayton. Doellman also had six rebounds and four blocks to lead a balanced attack by the Musketeers (15-6, 5-2). Stanley Burrell scored 14 points, Brian Roberts had 15 points, including 6-for-6 free-throw shooting, to lead the Flyers (13-7, 3-4).

Fordham 62, La Salle 54: Marcus Stout scored 20 points to lead Fordham to victory against host La Salle. Bryant Dunston had seven blocked shots for the Rams (12-7, 5-20), who won their fourth game in a row. Rodney Green scored 12 points for La Salle (9-12, 2-5).

St. Bonaventure 61, Richmond 53: Michael Lee scored 19 points, and St. Bonaventure (6-14, 3-4) held host Richmond (5-15, 1-6) to two field goals in the final 11:57 of the first half en route to the win.

Saint Joseph's 84, Penn 74: Pat Calathes scored 23 points and grabbed 10 rebounds and Ahmad Nivins had 19 points as Saint Joseph's (12-8) beat city rival Penn (11-7). The win was the 234th for Hawks coach Phil Martelli, tying him with Hall of Famer Jack Ramsay for most wins by a Saint Joseph's coach.