Completed Event: Men's Basketball at UNLV on February 7, 2026 , Loss , 78, to, 80
M Basketball
at UNLV
L 78-80
Grand Canyon University Athletics
The view from Point Loma’s Carroll B. Land Baseball Stadium
Hello and Goodbye to Point Loma
1/6/2013 9:32:00 PM | Men's Basketball, Women's Basketball
Hello and Goodbye to Point Loma
SAN DIEGO – I have seen the future of basketball road trips, and its name is Point Loma Nazarene University. Unfortunately, GCU’s basketball future doesn’t agree with me.
When a set of doors to your gymnasium opens to a drop-dead-gorgeous view of the Pacific Ocean, well, that gives new meaning to the old expression about poor shooting. “They couldn’t throw it in the ocean” is something a stone-cold team might be tempted to disprove at Point Loma, because the ocean is literally a couple hundred yards to the west (and people are surfing in it).
Point Loma’s postcard-perfect setting, about five miles from downtown San Diego, is as spectacular as campuses get. The school’s baseball field, Carroll B. Land Stadium, makes the claim on its scoreboard that it is “America’s Most Scenic Ballpark,” and you won’t get an argument from me. It sits on a bluff overlooking the ocean, and a few innings at the place would do wonders for anyone with high blood pressure.
I’m just bummed that Saturday’s games at Point Loma for the GCU men’s and women’s basketball teams figure to be their final ones.
Point Loma is one of four new members of the Pacific West Conference, but the Antelopes are headed to the NCAA Division I Western Athletic Conference next season and won’t be able to take the Sea Lions with them. That’s just wrong. I mean, we’re talking about the two-time National Scholastic Surfing Association champions here.
Point Loma’s campus has “a lot of similarities to Pepperdine,” said Josh Lowery, who transferred from the Malibu, Calif., beachside university to play his final season of college hoops at GCU.
“There were times when I’d just go outside and clear my head. It’s refreshing…. But the beach is not as big of a distraction as people think it is. It’s a blessing to be by the ocean and see God’s beauty like that.”
Who would choose GCU over Point Loma? Well, Olivia Meek would. And she already has.
Meek, 18, a senior at Grossmont High School in San Diego, considered Point Loma and California Baptist University before deciding on GCU. Next fall, she’ll be a Servant Scholar and a nursing major.
“I had my sights set on GCU from the beginning,” said Meek, who attended Saturday’s men’s game along with about 20 other prospective students from the San Diego area.
“I’m excited to go somewhere different. The dorms are nice, and everything seems brand-new.”
Meek said she has two friends attending GCU and has visited campus on three occasions. On one of those visits, she bumped into Dean Anne McNamara of the College of Nursing and Health Care Professions and received a special tour from McNamara. That made a huge impression on her parents, Russell and Mary Beth Meek, who were also at the Point Loma game.
GCU has been making a major push into Southern California, according to Senior Vice President Sarah Boeder, who hosted the group Saturday and a similar number last Wednesday night when the Antelopes played at Cal Baptist in Riverside. The University has been offering California high school students with a minimum 3.0 GPA a package of $18,000 per year (for tuition and room and board).
With tuition alone costing $30,000 at Point Loma and other private schools, the thinking is that it’s a deal they can’t refuse. Another outing for prospects will be held next weekend when GCU plays at Fresno Pacific University. The University’s involvement in the upcoming Rock & Worship Roadshow, a Christian-music tour, will reach even more students and their families in target markets.
“We’re trying to give students an idea of what it’s like to be a ’Lope,” Boeder said. “Usually when they come to something like this, they’re committed (to coming to GCU).”
But what about leaving behind the beach?
“The best time to go to the beach is in the summer, when they’re not in Phoenix,” reasoned GCU admissions manager Jeff Ogne.
Postscript to Cal Baptist
The overtime victory Wednesday by the GCU men’s team at Cal Baptist was witnessed by Scott Mossman, who coached at both schools. He was the head coach at Cal Baptist (1999-2002) before GCU (2004-08).
Mossman’s 2006-07 Antelope team won the PacWest before losing in the second round of the Division II West Regional.
“It was a great year with a great group of kids,” said Mossman, now one of the owners of Synergy Sports Tech, a video scouting service used by NBA and NCAA teams. He’s also coaching at a small Christian high school in Riverside.
GCU played Cal Baptist frequently when both were NAIA schools, and a game in February 1984 – won by the Antelopes, 62-52 -- won’t be forgotten by Rick Davis, the father of current Antelope Blake Davis.
“It was homecoming over there, and we were beating them pretty bad at halftime,” said Davis, then a player for GCU. “It got real physical in the second half and the refs called the game. We had to have a police escort off campus. After that game, we didn’t play them for a while.”
Email Doug Carroll at doug.carroll@gcu.edu.
SAN DIEGO – I have seen the future of basketball road trips, and its name is Point Loma Nazarene University. Unfortunately, GCU’s basketball future doesn’t agree with me.
When a set of doors to your gymnasium opens to a drop-dead-gorgeous view of the Pacific Ocean, well, that gives new meaning to the old expression about poor shooting. “They couldn’t throw it in the ocean” is something a stone-cold team might be tempted to disprove at Point Loma, because the ocean is literally a couple hundred yards to the west (and people are surfing in it).
Point Loma’s postcard-perfect setting, about five miles from downtown San Diego, is as spectacular as campuses get. The school’s baseball field, Carroll B. Land Stadium, makes the claim on its scoreboard that it is “America’s Most Scenic Ballpark,” and you won’t get an argument from me. It sits on a bluff overlooking the ocean, and a few innings at the place would do wonders for anyone with high blood pressure.
I’m just bummed that Saturday’s games at Point Loma for the GCU men’s and women’s basketball teams figure to be their final ones.
Point Loma is one of four new members of the Pacific West Conference, but the Antelopes are headed to the NCAA Division I Western Athletic Conference next season and won’t be able to take the Sea Lions with them. That’s just wrong. I mean, we’re talking about the two-time National Scholastic Surfing Association champions here.
Point Loma’s campus has “a lot of similarities to Pepperdine,” said Josh Lowery, who transferred from the Malibu, Calif., beachside university to play his final season of college hoops at GCU.
“There were times when I’d just go outside and clear my head. It’s refreshing…. But the beach is not as big of a distraction as people think it is. It’s a blessing to be by the ocean and see God’s beauty like that.”
Who would choose GCU over Point Loma? Well, Olivia Meek would. And she already has.
Meek, 18, a senior at Grossmont High School in San Diego, considered Point Loma and California Baptist University before deciding on GCU. Next fall, she’ll be a Servant Scholar and a nursing major.
“I had my sights set on GCU from the beginning,” said Meek, who attended Saturday’s men’s game along with about 20 other prospective students from the San Diego area.
“I’m excited to go somewhere different. The dorms are nice, and everything seems brand-new.”
Meek said she has two friends attending GCU and has visited campus on three occasions. On one of those visits, she bumped into Dean Anne McNamara of the College of Nursing and Health Care Professions and received a special tour from McNamara. That made a huge impression on her parents, Russell and Mary Beth Meek, who were also at the Point Loma game.
GCU has been making a major push into Southern California, according to Senior Vice President Sarah Boeder, who hosted the group Saturday and a similar number last Wednesday night when the Antelopes played at Cal Baptist in Riverside. The University has been offering California high school students with a minimum 3.0 GPA a package of $18,000 per year (for tuition and room and board).
With tuition alone costing $30,000 at Point Loma and other private schools, the thinking is that it’s a deal they can’t refuse. Another outing for prospects will be held next weekend when GCU plays at Fresno Pacific University. The University’s involvement in the upcoming Rock & Worship Roadshow, a Christian-music tour, will reach even more students and their families in target markets.
“We’re trying to give students an idea of what it’s like to be a ’Lope,” Boeder said. “Usually when they come to something like this, they’re committed (to coming to GCU).”
But what about leaving behind the beach?
“The best time to go to the beach is in the summer, when they’re not in Phoenix,” reasoned GCU admissions manager Jeff Ogne.
Postscript to Cal Baptist
The overtime victory Wednesday by the GCU men’s team at Cal Baptist was witnessed by Scott Mossman, who coached at both schools. He was the head coach at Cal Baptist (1999-2002) before GCU (2004-08).
Mossman’s 2006-07 Antelope team won the PacWest before losing in the second round of the Division II West Regional.
“It was a great year with a great group of kids,” said Mossman, now one of the owners of Synergy Sports Tech, a video scouting service used by NBA and NCAA teams. He’s also coaching at a small Christian high school in Riverside.
GCU played Cal Baptist frequently when both were NAIA schools, and a game in February 1984 – won by the Antelopes, 62-52 -- won’t be forgotten by Rick Davis, the father of current Antelope Blake Davis.
“It was homecoming over there, and we were beating them pretty bad at halftime,” said Davis, then a player for GCU. “It got real physical in the second half and the refs called the game. We had to have a police escort off campus. After that game, we didn’t play them for a while.”
Email Doug Carroll at doug.carroll@gcu.edu.
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