Washington Wizards Team Report - April 5

(Basketball News) - The Wizards played spoiler Sunday, tallying a 112-102 win over the Boston Celtics at the MCI Center.

Gilbert Arenas scored 25 of his 32 points in the second half for the Wizards. Arenas shot 6-of-9 from three-point range and added five steals. Larry Hughes contributed 31 points on 4-of-6 shooting from distance, as the Wizards’ starting backcourt outscored that of the Celtics, 63-27.

Jared Jeffries, who had 11 points, and Etan Thomas, who had 10 with six rebounds before fouling out, were the only other players to score in double digits for Washington, which snapped a five-game losing streak.

Washington faced an 83-82 deficit in the early stages of the fourth quarter, but used an 8-0 burst to grab a 90-83 advantage with nine minutes to play.

Boston sliced the lead to one at 91-90 on a Marcus Banks reverse layup with less than seven minutes to play, but the Wizards scored the next five points to move ahead 96-90 with just over five minutes remaining. The Celtics would get no closer than four points the rest of the way.

Washington activated rookie forward Jarvis Hayes from the injured list prior to the game, and he contributed eight points and three rebounds in 25 minutes. Hayes missed seven games with a strained left hamstring.

Washington avoided its first season-sweep at the hands of the Celtics since 1981-82, when Boston went 6-0 against the then-Washington Bullets.

The Wizards have their next two days off before returning to the court against Milwaukee Bucks at the Bradley Center. Washington has five games left in its season.