Grand Canyon caps season in spirited fight

ST. GEORGE, UTAH -- If there's one thing they can take away from this it's their willingness to win was there until the last second faded away into the 2008-09 memory bank.

But when the buzzer hit zero, the Antelopes were minus what they went to Utah for.

A win.

Grand Canyon lost the season's final game Friday night, 69-60, at Dixie State College of Utah. It was a game the Antelopes won in the paint, off second chance points, off turnovers and bench scoring, but somehow never led. The Lopes tied the game on two occasions, drawing praise from Dixie State coach Jon Judkins, but could never find the trump card to pull out a win in the last time they suited up this year.

"Give that team credit," Judkins said. "They didn't lay down and die."

No, and despite trailing by 14 with 14:09 to play, Grand Canyon (13-14) used a 13-3 run over the next 3:08, culminating in a three-point play by Eric Cuen, to draw within four. Cuen (pictured main page) turned a Dane Hill steal and dish into a layup, and sank the free throw after he was fouled to bring the Antelopes within 46-42. After Dixie State (16-11) stretched its lead back to eight on Ben Hartman's three-point play, GCU shrank the deficit back to four again at the 6:46 mark on a steal and dunk by Dave Cuen, who had 11 points, seven rebounds and three steals. It was a momentum-changing dunk by Cuen (pictured right), who will become the face of Grand Canyon's program next year, that followed Brandon McGruder's triple off a feed from Hill.

GCU center Engen Nurumbi, who finished with 14 points on 5 of 9 shooting before fouling out, sank a jumper at the 5:59 mark to pull the Lopes within two. Eric Cuen, whose 14 points, seven boards, two blocks and three steals before being whistled for his fifth foul are symbolic of his multi-dimensional game, knotted the score for the final time on a layup with 4:50 to play, eight seconds after Hill grabbed a key rebound on the defensive end.

But Grand Canyon couldn't get over the top, and now the Antelopes will have a summer to reflect on this quickly-assembled project under a first-year coaching regime hired late in the big picture. The good thing is, with coaching continuity seemingly stable, there are pieces to build off of for the future. Of course, a lot of that depends on individual commitment in the hot summer months, and recruitment offerings.

Make no mistake, seniors Milee Karre, Brandon Dempster and Shansan Chambers, never folded the towel in a season not many gave Grand Canyon much hope for this year. Yet as Karre said two days earlier, what the Antelopes accomplished under the circumstances "is pretty good."

Question is, will next year be better?

"We got this thing off to a good start," GCU first-year coach Dan Nichols said. "We're looking forward to taking it up a notch. It was a good year, and I had a lot of fun. To finish close to .500 is like pulling a rabbit out of a hat."

Time will tell what's in Nichols' bag of tricks next year.

Grand Canyon University Athletics

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