Offense rolls as Lopes claim 40-point win vs. UAPB

Thursday, December 22

Phoenix, Ariz.

7:00 P.M.

Grand Canyon

8-5

Arkansas - Pine Bluff

1-13

Arkansas-PB

Grand Canyon

12/22/2016 9:26:00 PM | Men's Basketball

Box Score

By: Charles Hampton

The Grand Canyon men's basketball team won their fifth home game in a row and improved to 8-5 on the season as they defeated Arkansas-Pine Bluff 89-49 at GCU Arena on Thursday night. The 40-point margin of victory was the largest since the Lopes transitioned to Division I play in 2013-14, 17 points greater than their previous high of 34 against Mississippi Valley State in 2015.

DeWayne Russell led all scorers with 31 points, the ninth straight game he has led GCU in scoring and the 10^th in his 11 games this season. Russell added 5 rebounds, 4 assists, and 2 steals in 37 minutes of action. Russell hit a career-best six three pointers as he connected on 6-of-8 from behind the arc.

The Lopes finished with four players scoring in double-figures. Shaq Carr and Oscar Frayer each scored 18 points and Gerard Martin tied his season-best 13 points while adding 3 rebounds, 3 assists and 3 steals. Carr had a career-best 9 assists and was a perfect 9-fo-9 from the free throw line while playing all 40 minutes for the first time in his career.

"I couldn't be happier, I thought it really started with our defense," said head coach Dan Majerle. "Defensively, we were very active we did a very good job—limiting them to one shot and getting the rebound. We got out and ran. We did a really good job of moving the basketball. We had a couple turnovers at the beginning, but then we settled down. We shot the ball really well. We moved it, shot it, spread it around. It was a total team effort."

UAPB got out to an early 9-7 lead, thanks to two jumpers from Trent Steen. The Lopes offense and defense came alive after that, sparked by five quick points from Carr, who made his first start since the second game of the season at Penn State.

Following a 3-pointer from Charles Jackson that cut the Lopes lead to 22-17 with 7:15 remaining in the first half, Russell and Martin hit back-to-back threes to open up GCU's first double-digit lead of the game. Martin then hit a pair of free throws before Frayer took over. The freshman from Oakland, Calif., scored the last 12 points of the half for the Lopes including two 3-pointers, a pair of free throws and throwing down a thunderous alley-oop dunk from Carr on a fast break started by a Frayer steal on the other side of the floor.

GCU closed the half on a 20-0 run over the final 5:18 to take a 42-17 into the locker room. The Lopes shot 58.3 percent from the field including hitting 6-of-9 3-point attempts. UAPB only hit 30.8 percent from the field in the first half, while hitting just 1-of-8 attempts from downtown. GCU controlled the boards with a 21-11 advantage and a 15-4 advantage on points off turnovers.

The second half started much the way the first half ended as Keonta Vernon stole a pass which led to two points from Carr. Following a bucket from the Golden Eagles that broke the scoring drought, Carr drained a three just before the shot clock expired to give the Lopes a 47-20 lead.

Following a jumper from JaQuan Clark that reduced the Lopes lead to 23, GCU came right back throwing another 15-2 run on the board with Russell, Carr, Martin and Keonta Vernon all contributing in the scoring. The Lopes opened up a 40-point lead following a 3-pointer from Russell with 6:52 to play in the game.

In the final minutes of the game, Nehemiah Allen and Adrian Carrion scored the first points of their collegiate career, while Carrion added his first assist on a no-look pass on while on the break, which led to a dunk from Chris Miller, resulting in a roar from the home crowd.

"I loved it," Majerle said. "Those guys got in. Nemo [Allen] got the score, Adrian got to the free-throw line. I loved that Chris was able to score. Those guys work as hard as our other guys in practice—on the scout team. I treat them like everybody else. They get yelled at. They get pushed to the limit. They run the sprints. They don't get any of the credit. They get to sit there and cheer. For those guys to get into the game, contribute and score, it makes you feel good as a coach for those guys because they work extremely hard."

Following the holiday, the Lopes return back to GCU Arena on Wednesday, Dec. 28, as GCU hosts Cal Poly. Tip-off is scheduled for 7 p.m.