Rhode Island 81, George Washington 70

1/23/2008 8:58 PM

SOUTH KINGSTOWN, R.I. (AP) -Jimmy Baron finished with 17 points and Parfait Bitee added 14 points and seven assists to lead Rhode Island past George Washington 81-70 on Wednesday night.

Baron hit his 1,000th career point when he knocked down a 3-point shot at 2:59 of the first half. He's the 19th player in Division I history to score 1,000 career points while playing for his father, and the 46th Rams player to score 1,000.

The loss was the third consecutive defeat for George Washington (5-9, 1-3 Atlantic 10), led by guard Maureece Rice's 17 points.

The Colonials led by as many as five points at the 4:53 mark of the first half, but Rhode Island (16-3, 2-2) held a 44-39 advantage at half time.

The Rams forged their largest advantage of the night at 21 points as a result of a 12-1 run midway through the second half.

Will Daniels and Joe Mbang had 13 points each for Rhode Island.

Baron connected on 4 of 6 from beyond 3-point range. Rhode Island hit 45.5 percent from beyond the perimeter on 10 of 22 attempts.