GCU Finishes Trip with Win at Dominican

Saturday, January 22

San Rafael, CA

7:30 p.m.

Grand Canyon

Dominican

Kyle Speed, left, and Brad Carroll combined for 31 points in GCU's 68-60 win at Dominican Saturday.

1/22/2011 9:45:40 PM | Men's Basketball

By: Steve Heath

Grand Canyon had four players score in double figures to lead it to a 68-60 victory at Dominican Saturday in San Rafael, Calif.

The win upped the ‘Lopes record to 8-6 overall and 3-1 in the Pacific West Conference. Dominican drops to 0-16 and 0-6. It also wrapped up the ‘Lopes three-game, six-day road trip with a 2-1 record.

“We’re 3-1 and played all road games. We’d love to be 4-0, but to win 75 percent of your road games, I think any coach in America would take that,” said GCU head coach Russ Pennell.

GCU will play its next eight games at Antelope Gymnasium, beginning Thursday against Chaminade.

Nick Witherill (Phoenix, Ariz., Highland, Washington State) scored on a conventional three-point play to give GCU a 63-59 lead with 1:50 to go. After a defensive stop, Kyle Speed (Seattle, Wash., Lake Washington, Johnson County CC) hit a pull-up jumper for a 65-59 lead.

Later, up 65-60 and working every bit of the shot clock, Speed drilled a 3-pointer from the baseline to give the ‘Lopes a 68-60 advantage with only 13 seconds to go.

“I think the key was to establish ourselves on the defensive end and beat their zone down the floor in transition,” said Speed.

Brad Carroll (Chandler, Ariz., Corona del Sol, Milwaukee) led the way for GCU with 16 points. Speed finished with 15. Steven Morin (Scottsdale, Ariz., Saguaro) had 13 and Witherill scored 11. Carroll had a team-high five rebounds.

Grand Canyon started pulling away in the second half, outscoring Dominican 17-8 for the first seven-plus minutes. It gave the ‘Lopes their first double-digit lead, 51-40.

Grand Canyon trailed late in the first half, 30-27 with 1:50 to go, but got seven straight points fromCarroll to take a 34-30 lead. Carroll had 13 first-half points on 5-of-6 shooting from the field, including 3-of-3 from 3-point range.

“I thought Dominican had a really good game plan. They had not shown that much zone defense all year,” Pennell said. “It took us a little while to get settled in.”

Connor Haysbert led Dominican with 19 points.

Box Score