Second-half run sparks win at Seattle U

Friday, February 12

Seattle, Wash.

8 p.m.

Grand Canyon

22-4, 8-2WAC

Seattle U

12-12, 6-4WAC

Grand Canyon

Seattle University

Photo by: Darryl Webb

2/12/2016 11:11:00 PM | Men's Basketball

Box Score

By: Charles Hampton

The Grand Canyon men's basketball team found their shooting stroke as they took down Seattle U 71-60 at KeyArena on Friday. The Lopes have now won three games in a row and are now, at 22-4, tied for the most wins in Division I play.

Ryan Majerle came off the bench to score a season-best 16 points, capitalizing on Seattle U's zone defense, hitting 5-of-11 shots including four three-pointers to help lead the Lopes to the win. Grandy Glaze notched his 10^th double-double of the season as he collected 16 points and 10 rebounds.

"We knew this would be a tough one but we had a little payback to give," head coach Dan Majerle said after the game. "I thought we started the ballgame off really good defensively. We just had a hard time putting the ball in the basket. Then we kind of got in a groove and started shooting the ball better. Then in the second half, we started again where we were just missing layup after layup after layup and Josh (Braun) missing shots, but then we started to find it. Ryan really came in and had a heck of a game for us."

This game looked a lot like the first matchup between these two schools two weeks ago in the early going with defense dominating the game. The Lopes opened up a nine-point lead late in the first half, but each time they tried to push it to double-digits, the Redhawks would answer right back with a run of their own. The two teams entered halftime with the Lopes holding a four-point lead, 32-28.

The Redhawks took their first lead of the ballgame on a pair of free throws from many Chibuogwu with 10:50 remaining in the ballgame. The two schools traded buckets on their next four possessions before Seattle U capitalized on a couple of missed layups by the Lopes to take a four-point lead, 48-44, with 8:48 to go. Majerle, who played a season-high 31 minutes, answered right back with a three-pointer that sparked a 15-2 run that including Joshua Braun and Gerard Martin three-pointers to open up a 59-50 lead. The Lopes would never trail again.

Braun, the Lopes' leading scorer throughout the season, was held scoreless for the first 33 minutes of the contest until hitting that three-pointer. It was the first time this season that Braun had been held scoreless in the first half. He finished the game with 8 points, 4 rebounds, 3 assists, a block and a steal in 35 minutes.

"If you would have told me that Josh would have been 2-for-11 and 1-for-8 (from three-point range), I thought we would have lost this game," Dan Majerle added. "But Ryan really stepped up and played well."

Grand Canyon shot 42.9 percent from the field for the game and held Seattle U to 38.3 perfect for the game. The Lopes are now 18-1 this season when they have a better shooting percentage than their opponent. In a matchup between the top two three-point shooting teams in the conference entering the game, the Lopes won that battle as well, shooting 32.0 percent from behind the arc while holding the Redhawks to just 26.3 percent including 11.1 percent in the second half.

DeWayne Russell had his second-highest scoring game of the season, putting up 15 points on 5-of-8 shooting from the field and two three-pointers. The Lopes received contributions from up and down the roster as three different players tied for the team lead in both assists and steals.

"It was big—everybody played well," Dan Majerle said. "I just thought the attitude was really good. The guys off the bench were into it. DeWayne played one of our better games and he spent a lot of time on the bench in the second half and he was one of the biggest cheerleaders. That's why I love the kid because he's all about team. Keonta (Vernon) is a lot like that, he's all about the team. That's why those guys our special."

The Lopes will return home next week with a conference games against UMKC and Chicago State on Thursday, Feb. 18 and Saturday, Feb. 20, 2016 at Grand Canyon University Arena. Tip-off for both games is scheduled for 7 p.m. MT.