CHARLOTTE, N.C. (AP) – With center Elden Campbell in early foul trouble, P.J. Brown took on an uncharacteristic role.

Brown scored a scored a season-high 22 points in leading the Charlotte Hornets to a 95-93 victory over the Washington Wizards on Saturday night.

When Campbell returned with 8:40 left in the fourth quarter, he provided the offense that sealed the comeback victory for Charlotte.

Campbell finished with 18 points, and David Wesley contributed 17 for the Hornets as all five starters hit double figures.

Courtney Alexander paced Washington with 21 points, followed by Richard Hamilton with 20 and Christian Laettner and Hubert Davis with 16 each.

After a 7-0 run put Washington ahead 87-80 with 7:18 left, Charlotte scored eight straight points to lead 88-87 on Campbell's layup with 4:01 remaining.

Alexander scored on a jumper to give Washington an 89-88 advantage, but a jumper in the lane from Eddie Robinson and a pair of free throws from Brown put the Hornets ahead to stay at 92-89.

Trailing 95-93, the Wizards had two chances to tie, but Hamilton's runner in the lane with 5 seconds left bounced off the front rim. After Brown missed a pair of free throws with 1.6 seconds left, Popeye Jones' off-balance attempt from the lane didn't draw iron.

"Unfortunately, we had a period in the fourth quarter where we had three or four possessions where we either didn't execute or we turned the ball over," said Washington coach Leonard Hamilton. "We got beat by a team that just played a little better than we did at the end."

Known more for his rebounding than for his scoring, Brown had 16 points in the first half to lead Charlotte. As the Wizards concentrated on stopping Jamal Mashburn and Wesley, Brown found himself open for short-range jumpers and cuts to the basket.

"David and Mash drew a lot of their attention," Brown said. "I just tried to take advantage of the opportunities that presented themselves tonight. We jumped out to a great lead in the first quarter, and I thought we were going to blow them out, but they hurt us with their rebounding and second-chance points.

"Foul trouble definitely hurt us, but you've got to give them credit. They're a sub-.500 team, but they came out and played us really tough," Brown said.

With two baskets each from Hamilton and Alexander and a 3-pointer from Davis, the Wizards ran off the first 11 points of the third quarter to lead 64-57. But Wesley hit three straight jumpers in a 14-7 run that pulled Charlotte even at 71 on Mashburn's 3-pointer with 2:57 left.

Robinson's fast-break layup with 58.2 seconds remaining gave Charlotte a 77-76 advantage after three periods.

With all 12 of his first-half points in the final 7:54 of the second period, Laettner kept the Wizards within striking distance. He made Washington's only three field goals in a 15-8 run to close the half as the Wizards trimmed an 11-point Charlotte lead to 57-53.

The Hornets committed 15 fouls in the first two periods, which translated to a 16-of-23 perfomance at the line for Washington.

With the exception of Mashburn, all of the Hornets' front-line players had at least two fouls by halftime. Though limited to 13 minutes because of foul trouble, Campbell contributed 12 points.

"Washington played well tonight," said Hornets coach Paul Silas. There was a mismatch on Courtney Alexander, and he was on fire. Mash couldn't get his shot off because they were doubling him. Fortunately, David started hitting, and Elden brought it home."

Game notes
The Hornets evened the season series at 2-2. Before this season, Charlotte had won five straight from the Wizards, dating to April 2, 1999... Washington could have used the services of guard Mitch Richmond, who averages 21.2 points per game against Charlotte. Richmond missed his third straight game with a strained right knee.

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