GCU downs Mississippi Valley State 72-62

Saturday, December 17

Phoenix, Ariz.

7:00 P.M.

Grand Canyon

6-5

Mississippi Valley State

0-11

MVSU

Grand Canyon

12/17/2016 9:07:00 PM | Men's Basketball

Box Score

By: Samantha Fell

PHOENIX – The Grand Canyon men's basketball team defeated the Mississippi Valley State Delta Devils 72-62 on Saturday night. DeWayne Russell led GCU in scoring with 22 points. The Lopes move to 6-5 on the season while MVSU falls to 0-11.

"You're always happy about a win no matter if it's ugly or not," head coach Dan Majerle said. "We just have to figure a way to keep winning games. It's going to be like this all year."

The Delta Devils used a zone to slow the Lopes offense in the first half. GCU struggled from the floor in the early minutes before getting hot from behind the three-point arc. Fiifi Aidoo hit the first three-pointer of the game to get the GCU offense moving. Frayer hit another three moments later and Russell drained two of his own. In total, Grand Canyon connected on five threes in the first half.

With under four minutes remaining in the half, Kerwin Smith dunked off of an offensive rebound. Two minutes later, Smith dunked again off of an alley-oop from Russell. The jam extended the GCU lead to 37-27.

Russell scored on a breakaway layup in the closing seconds of the half to send GCU into the locker room with a 41-27 advantage. The Lopes shot 48.1 percent from the field in the first half including 35.7 percent from beyond the arc.

The Lopes turned up the offensive intensity in the early stages of the second half. GCU used effective passing to pull away from the Delta Devils, claiming leads as large as 24 points by the mid-way point of the second half.

The Lopes faced a full-court press for the majority of the game. The Lopes were able to capitalize on the pressure and scored 12 fast break points in the contest. A breakaway Frayer slam dunk with 10 minutes remaining put GCU up 64-42.

With the rest of campus home for Christmas break, the Lopes will have a quick turnaround for their next game. GCU will host Alcorn State on Tuesday, Dec. 20 at 7 p.m. MST.
The game will be aired on CW6 and 1230 AM KFYI 2.