Chaz Williams had 20 points and five assists, and he closed out the game by making 4-of-4 free throws and coming up with a key steal as UMass posted an 80-75 victory over VCU on Friday night in Amherst.
Also for UMass, (21-5, 8-4 Atlantic-10), Derrick Gordon scored 16 points, Trey Davis had 13 points and four steals, Cady Lalanne collected 10 points and nine rebounds, and Sampson Carter had nine points and 10 rebounds.
Treveon Graham had 10 points and eight rebounds for VCU (20-7, 8-4).
Neither team had an impressive shooting night, with UMass missing all eight of its 3-point tries and finishing at 42 percent from the field, and VCU shooting 39 percent overall and 28 percent from behind the arc. The visitors also had an off night at the free throw line, hitting just 10-of-22 (45 percent).
VCU broke open a tight game and built a nine-point lead late in the first half before settling for a five-point cushion at the break, 39-34. UMass took its first lead of the second half with 13:47 left on a Williams layup that made it 50-49, but VCU soon restored its five-point advantage.
With UMass trailing 67-62 and 6:36 remaining, Williams started a 10-2 run with a jumper. Davis put the Minutemen ahead to stay with a layup with just over four minutes left, making the score 70-68.
The UMass lead was one at 76-75 before Williams hit two free throws with 16 seconds left. At the other end, Williams snuck up on Briante Weber while was driving the lane and stole the ball. He was fouled and hit two more free throws to close out the scoring.
With the win, UMass moves into a three-way tied for third place in the A-10 with the teams it beat in its last two games, George Washington and VCU.
– In Philadelphia, Siyani Chambers had nine points and 10 assists to lead Harvard to an 83-63 rout of Pennsylvania.
Steve Moundou-Missi scored 14 points and Laurent Rivard netted 13 for the Crimson (21-4, 8-1 Ivy), who remain tied with Yale for first place in the league. Harvard had 13 steals, led by Brandy Curry with four.
Fran Dougherty scored 15 points for Penn (6-16, 3-5), which had 20 turnovers, compared to eight for Harvard.