George Washington G.W./Tennessee Tennessee Men's College Basketball recap on ESPN

Tennessee (11-1, No. 5 ESPN/USA Today, No. 6 AP) won the foul-marred game over George Washington 92-81 Thursday night to advance to the Rainbow Classic's championship round against Iowa. The Hawkeyes (No. 22 ESPN/USA Today, No. 23 AP) also struggled in their game, squeezing past Detroit-Mercy 69-68.

But as the Colonials (5-5) prepared to leave the Stan Sheriff Center, a scuffle broke out.

"I have no idea what happened," Tennessee coach Jerry Green said. "All I heard was that one of our guys who left early got into it with their team.

"They were all supposed to eat in the hospitality room. It was a good idea at first, but maybe it wasn't such a good idea -- especially not after when two teams just got through beating up on each other."

"There was a lot of pushing and shoving," one witness said of the incident, which lasted about five minutes. "It took a lot of coaches to keep the teams apart.

"Some of the players grabbed chairs, but, luckily, not one swing."

The game itself was extremely physical, with George Washington being whistled for 37 fouls and the Volunteers capitalizing by making 45 of 60 free throws. There were three technicals, two against GW.

"They were a very aggressive team, maybe as aggressive as we've played this year," Green said. "The game was very different because it was a grab-and-hold game. We knew it wasn't going to be pretty.

"But we played when we had to and I give ourselves credit because of that. It wasn't our best game of the year, but it was against a different style -- a style we haven't seen in any of the games we've played this year."

"Our kids scrapped," GW coach Tom Penders said. "But we didn't play as well as we're capable of playing. We hung in there and had a chance to win the game, but it just didn't go our way."

It took a 20-4 second-half rally, highlighted by Tony Harris' 10 points, to save the night for the Volunteers.

The Colonials had just come off a 12-0 rally that put them ahead 64-57 with 12:06 left. But Harris started Tennessee's comeback with a 3-pointer and closed it with three free throws.

At the 5:33 mark of the run, the Volunteers got their last field goal of the game, a short jumper by Vincent Yarbrough. After that, they made 23 of 27 free throws to close out the game

It was a struggle for the Volunteers in the first half.

It wasn't until Jenis Grindstaff's 3-pointer at the 10:09 mark that they tied the game at 25. Up to that point, the Colonials held leads ranging up to six points. Tennessee got a balanced performance with Isiah Victor getting 16 points, including a 10-of-12 effort from the foul line.

Yarbrough had 15 points and 10 rebounds, while Harris and Ron Slay each scored 13 points and Marcus Haislip had 10.

Tennessee also dominated the boards 50-32. Chris Monroe led the Colonials with 27 points, but SirValiant Brown, who had been averaging 20.7 points, finished with 17 on 4-for-19 shooting.

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Men's College Basketball Scoreboard

George Washington Clubhouse

Tennessee Clubhouse