'Lopes Show Grit in D-I Opener

Friday, November 8

San Diego, CA

5:30 p.m.

Grand Canyon

0-1

Loyola Marymount

1-0

Grand Canyon

Loyola Marymount

Blake Davis

11/8/2013 9:39:00 PM | Men's Basketball

Box Score

By: Fall 78-75 to LMU

The game that has been eagerly anticipated in all GCU circles since its formal announcement last November for inclusion into Division I certainly did not disappoint, as the Grand Canyon University men's basketball team showed it does belong after a hard-fought 78-75 loss to Loyola Marymount at the Jenny Craig Pavilion in San Diego, Calif.

The game was the season opener for both squads.

The Antelopes, who trailed by 12 at the half, rallied from as many as 14 down in the second half to take a three-point lead (70-67) with 2:23 remaining.

LMU's Anthony Ireland followed with a three-point play after being fouled on a made jumper to tie the game at 70. Ireland was the Lions' leading scorer with 14.

Killian Larson, who scored all of his game-high 18 points in the second half, put GCU back on top 72-70 with a bucket with 1:52 left.

The Lions would then outscore GCU 8-3 the rest of the way, highlighted by a three-pointer from Chase Flint with 1:02 on the clock to give LMU a 75-73 lead that they would not relinquish. Demetrius Walker had a chance to tie the game, down three with just over 30 seconds remaining, going up for a three-point shot and receiving contact, but no whistle was blown.

"I'm extremely proud of our team, said head coach Dan Majerle. "We found ourselves down by 12 at the half, but we fought back and gave ourselves a chance to win. We don't have a lot of depth right now on our team and because of that we had to deal with early foul trouble. As long as we keep learning from these games I will be happy."

Larson finished with a team-high nine rebounds, to go along with his 6-for-8 shooting. Walker, in his first game with the 'Lopes, came off the bench to score 17 on 7-for-13 shooting.

"Killian was patient after not getting the ball a lot in the first half," added Majerle. "We did a good job of getting the ball to him in the second half and he finished. Demetrius came in and did a good job. He needs to be a scorer for us and he did that, working within our offense."

All told, the Antelopes had five players score in double digits. Jerome Garrison started at point guard and scored 10 points with three assists.

"I thought we did well tonight and put ourselves in a position to pull it out," said Garrison. "We lost it because of things we did to ourselves, again, but we will fix that and I see us growing up. When this team puts a complete game together it will be something special to watch. I'm encouraged."

The Antelopes lost the battle on boards, 35-33, but carried a 17-12 edge in a second half that saw them shoot 57.7 percent (15-for-26). GCU outshot the Lions in the game, 46.3 to 45.2 percent.

One of the highlights of the opener was the strong support in the crowd, with a special emphasis on the 400 GCU students that made the trek in seven buses this morning.

"It's awesome to see this type of support," said Majerle. "The guys come out and see we have a bigger crowd than the team we are playing and they feed off that. That type of following shows you what a special place GCU is and how lucky we are to be a part of it."

"It was amazing to see the support tonight, added Garrison. "They were cheering 40 minutes prior to the game and they made us play better. We really appreciate them and I love our student body. We can't thank them enough."

Grand Canyon will not have much time to rest as they return to the court tomorrow to play the host, San Diego, at 7 p.m. (AZ time). The game will be carried live on Cox7 television and 1360AM radio back in Phoenix, with streaming options available at www.gculopes.com. Tonight's game will be available for viewing at www.cox7.com.

LMU 78 GCU 75