Braun scores 31 to lead Lopes to 11th straight win

Saturday, January 23

Kansas City, Mo.

6 p.m.

Grand Canyon

18-2, 5-0WAC

Missouri-Kansas City

8-13, 1-5WAC

Grand Canyon

UMKC

Photo by: Darryl Webb

1/23/2016 9:43:00 PM | Men's Basketball

Box Score

By: Charles Hampton

The Grand Canyon men's basketball team used a 14-3 run in the second half to extend their winning streak to 11 games as they took home an 85-78 win over UMKC on Saturday night at Municipal Auditorium in Kansas City, Mo. The Lopes are now 18-2 on the season and a perfect 5-0 in conference play.

"That was a gutsy win. Right from the beginning, we knew they were going to play hard for 40 minutes and that they were going to keep coming at you. I don't know, we just played hard. Down the stretch, I thought we played great defense," head coach Dan Majerle said after the game. "These guys, they just keep – they amaze me they really do. Every time I think they're going to kind of take a little bit of rest, they just keep fighting. We've got great chemistry on this team and the guys really care about each other. We're starting to gel, we're starting to play better and that's what I've always said, as long as they keep playing better, getting better every game we're going to be OK and I thought we got a little bit better."

Joshua Braun led all scorers with 31 points, including tying a career-high with six three pointers. It was the second time in three games that Braun has topped 30 points after never reaching the 30-point mark in his career. Additionally, he grabbed 10 rebounds to give him his third double-double of the season. Despite missing his first free throw attempt of the game, Braun hit nine straight throughout the game to finish 9-of-10 from the charity stripe.

It is the fourth time in five WAC games that Braun has scored 20-plus points, with his 19 points at Chicago State being the only game he has fallen short of the 20-point mark. Braun is now averaging 25.4 points per game against WAC opponents this season.

"What can you say about Josh Braun?" Majerle said. "He's just a beast. He just continues to roll and do what he does and just, overall, a great win."

The Lopes capitalized against the Roos zone defense throughout the game, shooting 58.8 percent from three-point range including hitting 7-of-10 first half threes. Ryan Majerle was a perfect 3-for-3 from downtown to add 9 points in 16 minutes of action.

Coming off a Chicago State game that saw the Lopes grab a season-high 48 rebounds, GCU managed their second-lowest rebounding total of the season as they lost they were outrebounded by UMKC 36-30.

The Lopes improved to 15-0 this season when shooting for a higher field goal percentage than their opponents. Beyond Braun, GCU didn't have another player score in double-figures, but had a productive balance of scoring as seven other players score between 6-9 points.

DeWayne Russell had a tough night shooting the ball, but still led the Lopes with 5 assists. De'Andre Davis came off the bench to score 8 points on 4-of-5 shooting and added 2 assists and 2 steals. Matt Jackson continued his hot-shooting since being inserted into the starting lineup, hitting 4-of-7 shots to finish with 9 points. The Lopes are now 6-0 since Jackson became a starter.

UMKC (8-13, 1-5) has now lost five straight, including last 9 of their last 10 games. Martez Harrison led the Roos with 20 points. The Lopes will play the Roos once more this season, a Feb. 18 home contest at GCU Arena.

GCU returns home next weekend as they take on CSU Bakersfield on Thursday night. Tip-off is schedule for 7 p.m. MT and the game can be seen live on Cox 7 or by listening to Michael Potter and Dan Nichols on the GCU Radio Network, 1010 KXXT AM.