Men's Hoops Defeats Reigning WAC Champion Utah Valley

Thursday, January 15

Orem, UT

7 p.m.

Grand Canyon

11-8, 2-0

Utah Valley

6-10, 1-1

Grand Canyon

Utah Valley

DeWayne Russell matched his GCU career-high with 24 points

Photo by: Darryl Webb

1/15/2015 8:10:00 PM | Men's Basketball

Box Score

Lopes improve to 2-0 in conference play

In a tightly contested game that saw 10 tied scores and eight lead changes, the Grand Canyon University men's basketball team (11-8, 2-0 WAC) won a hard-fought 83-74 decision over Utah Valley (6-10, 1-1 WAC) tonight at UCCU Center in Orem, Utah. The victory was the third straight for GCU as they matched their season-high with 83 points.

The Antelopes avenged a pair of losses to the Wolverines from last season, who went on to win the 2013-14 regular season WAC title.

GCU shot 47.5 percent (29-for-61) for the game, including a 57.1 percentage (16-for-28) over the final 20 minutes as they outscored the Wolverines 48-39 in that time. UVU shot 42.1 percent (24-for-57).

DeWayne Russell matched his GCU career-best with 24 points, while Jerome Garrison added 20 points. Daniel Alexander posted a double-double with 15 points and 11 rebounds, the latter of which marks a new career-high for Alexander. Garrison matched his season-high with seven boards, while Alexander also added a season-best six assists.

Joshua Braun marked the fourth Lopes player to finish in double figures with 11 points.

GCU jumped out to an early 6-0 lead as their defense held the Wolverines to an 0-for-8 mark over the game's first five minutes. UVU used a 7-0 run of their own to move ahead, 14-13, with 9:35 on the clock and went on to lead by seven points (26-19) just over four minutes later.

The Lopes answered by scoring seven unanswered points to tie the score at 26 with under four minutes remaining in the first half. The two teams traded baskets as time expired as the score was knotted at 35 at the break.

GCU shot 39.4 percent (13-for-33) over the first 20 minutes, led by Garrison with 11 points and Alexander with 10 points. The Wolverines went 12-for-31 from the floor (38.7 percent).

The second half went back and forth, with the teams trading leads and neither staking an advantage of more than five points. The Lopes held a one-point lead, 70-69, with just under three minutes remaining, but battled to find themselves ahead by six, 79-73, with 35 seconds to play to put the game out of reach for UVU.

GCU held the 34-28 advantage in points in the paint, while they also had 16 second chance points as they outrebounded the Wolverines 38-33.

GCU remains on the road for their next two games, traveling to Las Cruces, N.M. for a 7 p.m. meeting with New Mexico State on Jan. 22. Fans can follow the action live by tuning in to KXXT 1010 AM Family Values Radio.

GCU 83, UVU 74