Justin Champagnie scored 20 points off the bench Friday to help the Washington Wizards earn a 119-99 victory over the visiting Brooklyn Nets.
Alex Sarr had 19 points and four blocks, CJ McCollum added 17 points, and Tre Johnson and Marvin Bagley III had 12 points each for Washington, which has won four of its last five points after a 5-23 start. Bilal Coulibaly added 11 points.
Day’Ron Sharpe, Terance Mann, Ziaire Williams and Drake Powell each scored 14 points for the Nets, who lost their third straight game. Nolan Traoré collected 12 points, followed by Danny Wolf (11) and Egor Demin (10).
After McCollum’s 3-pointer extended Washington’s lead to 17 to start the second half, Mann’s personal 8-0 run brought the Nets within nine.
Washington pushed the advantage to 22 as Champagnie scored seven goals on a 9-0 spurt, giving the Wizards an 87-65 lead with 3:29 left in the third. Powell’s three-point play cut Brooklyn’s deficit to 16 before Bub Carrington’s 3-pointer marked a 7-0 Washington run to give the Wizards a 96-73 lead heading into the fourth.
Wolf scored six straight points during an 8-0 Brooklyn run, cutting the Wizards’ lead to 20 with 7:44 left in regulation. The Nets’ mini-rally continued as layups from Noah Clowney and Wolf cut the visitors’ deficit to 12 with 4:24 left.
Sarr’s subsequent 3-pointer and layup sealed the victory.
Washington took a 15-7 lead on Johnson’s triple with 8:16 left in the first quarter. The Wizards finished the first stanza on an 11-2 run, taking a 37-24 lead on Champagnie’s three-pointer with one second remaining.
Washington’s lead grew to 18 on Johnson’s line early in the second quarter. Brooklyn rallied nine times on Sharpe’s layup with 7:27 to play, but the Wizards took a 64-50 lead into halftime. McCollum and Sharpe led their respective teams with 12 points each in the first half.
–Field level media
