WASHINGTON – With Jason Richardson leading the way, the Charlotte Bobcats are suddenly on their best run ever.

Richardson scored 34 points, and the Bobcats stretched their winning streak to a franchise-record five consecutive games by holding off the Washington Wizards 100-97 Saturday night.

The Bobcats, who are in their fourth season of existence, went 1-11 during February, but they are 5-0 in March.

Charlotte led by as many as 19 points in the first half and 92-84 with less than a minute remaining. But Washington got to 92-89 on a 3-pointer by Roger Mason Jr. with 28.7 seconds left, and then to 96-94 on Antawn Jamison’s 3 over Richardson with 14.8 to go. Mason’s two free throws pulled Washington to 97-96 with 10 seconds on the clock.

But Richardson then went 2-for-2 at the line, and Washington’s Deshawn Stevenson intentionally missed his second foul shot with the score 99-97 and 5.6 seconds remaining. Matt Carroll added a free throw for the final margin.

Richardson is averaging 28.8 points this month, and he displayed a bit of everything against Washington. That included a spectacular windmill dunk with 20 seconds left in the third quarter – he shot 5-for-5 in that period – and making five of his first seven 3-point attempts.

Jamison led the way with 30 points and 10 rebounds for the Wizards, who are still without their top two players, point guard Gilbert Arenas (left knee surgery) and forward Caron Butler (hip injury).

Washington had a chance to get back to .500 for the first time in more than a month but instead fell to 30-32, one game ahead of idle Philadelphia for sixth place in the Eastern Conference.

Carroll added 23 points for Charlotte, making his first six 3s, while Raymond Felton had 14 points and 12 assists. Those two, along with Richardson, Emeka Okafor and Nazr Mohammed, are 5-1 as a starting lineup.

“During that period, we’ve grown in a lot of different areas. Nazr and Emeka have played more minutes on the floor together and been good. Raymond has really grown at the point guard position, done some real nice things. Matt Carroll has come in and scored, played defense and rebounded,” Bobcats coach Sam Vincent said before tipoff. “So just the fact that we’ve had some real nice things take place on the floor in terms of growth is the most meaningful thing about the winning streak.”

Richardson has assumed the scoring burden while Gerald Wallace has been sidelined since Feb. 22 with a concussion. And Richardson took over for stretches Saturday.

He scored 16 in the first period on 6-for-7 shooting, and 11 in his perfect third. Seven straight Bobcats points by Richardson made it 64-52 with 7:15 left in the third quarter.

Carroll’s 3 at the buzzer put Charlotte ahead 35-21 after the opening quarter, when the Bobcats shot 70 percent, including 78 percent (7-for-9) from behind the arc.

The visitors were ahead 42-23 on Jermareo Davidson’s follow dunk with 8:44 left in the second quarter. But Mason’s consecutive 3s began a 17-2 Washington run, during which Charlotte missed seven shots in a row.

Charlotte created a bit of a cushion again to lead 54-47 at halftime.

Notes: Butler returns to full-contact practice Monday; he hasn’t played since Feb. 5. “I’ll give it a shot,” Butler said. “We’ll see what happens.” … Wallace is to practice Monday, too, and could play as soon as Wednesday at Dallas. … Before the game, Arenas walked through the hallway outside the visiting locker room and passed Vincent. “Gilbert, what’s up, man? You all right”? Vincent asked. “Yeah, yeah, yeah,” Arenas replied. “Get well, man,” the coach said. “Thank you,” Arenas responded. … Washington was 3-0 against Charlotte this season before Saturday.

AP-ES-03-08-08 2149EST