George Washington had a comfortable 21-point lead at halftime of its Atlantic 10 second-round game against No. 8 Fordham on Thursday afternoon.
It got uncomfortable soon after the break.
The ninth-seeded Revolutionaries held off a furious second-half comeback from Fordham for a 66-62 victory at PPG Paints Arena.
George Washington (18-14) advanced to play No. 1 Saint Louis (27-4) in the quarterfinals at 11:30 a.m. Friday.
Guard Christian Jones had 20 points and center Rafael Castro added 15 to lead the Revolutionaries.
Guard Dejour Reaves had 23 points to pace Fordham.
George Washington led 41-17 a minute into the second half before Fordham started to trim the deficit. The Rams used a 30-12 run to close within 53-47 with 7 minutes, 12 seconds left.
Forward Roor Akhuar’s 3-pointer with 3:37 left made it 59-56. A driving layup by Reaves got Fordham to within 61-59 at the 1:41 mark.
But George Washington continued to have an answer as free throws from guard Christian Jones and Reaves increased the lead to 64-59.
Reaves’ and-one layup got it to 64-62 with 14 seconds left, but George Washington was able to break the press and get a fastbreak layup for guard Jean Aranguren to seal the 66-62 win.
This story will be updated.