Fred VanVleet hit a tie-breaking 3-pointer with 59 seconds to play, and the Toronto Raptors hung on after blowing an 18-point fourth-quarter lead to beat the Washington Wizards 109-105 on Friday night.
Rookie Scottie Barnes scored a career-high 27 points, VanVleet scored 21 and had 12 assists, Pascal Siakam also scored 21 points for Toronto, which went 2-3 on a five-game trip.
“It was really just finding those easy spots where I could really just get to the rim,” Barnes said.
“We turned it over way too many times,” Beal said. “That’s unacceptable. It’s 100 percent on [me].”
Beal scored 13 points in the fourth quarter, and the Wizards tied the game at 102 on five straight points from Montrezl Harrell, who converted a three-point play and then dunked.
OG Anunoby scored on a layup and Siakam hit two free throws to seal the game.
WATCH | Raps rookie Barnes sets career-high with 27 points:
Toronto defeats Washington 109-105, rookie Scottie Barnes leads the way with a career-high 27 points. 0:29
Toronto took control with a 22-6 run that gave it a 91-77 lead after three quarters. Barnes, the fourth overall pick in the draft, scored 10 points in the third. The Raptors were up 95-77 early in the fourth quarter.
Toronto’s Yuta Watanabe, who didn’t play in the last two games, returned and matched up with Washington’s Rui Hachimura, the second time in NBA history two Japanese players faced each other.
Hachimura had 11 points, and Watanabe didn’t score in six minutes.