Lopes and Aggies split season series

Thursday, February 4

Las Cruces, N.M.

7 p.m.

Grand Canyon

19-4, 6-2

New Mexico State

15-8, 7-1

Grand Canyon

New Mexico State

Photo by: Darryl Webb

2/4/2016 9:36:00 PM | Men's Basketball

Box Score

By: Charles Hampton

LAS CRUCES, N.M. - The Grand Canyon men's basketball team dropped consecutive games for the first time this season as it fell to New Mexico State 70-50 in front of 5,509 at the Pan American Center on Thursday.

The Lopes fell to 19-4 on the season, and dropped to second place in the Western Athletic Conference standings for the first time this season with a 6-2 conference record. The Aggies won their 32nd consecutive conference home game and improved to 15-8 overall on the season and 7-1 in WAC play.

Grand Canyon continued to struggle from the field, shooting only 29 percent including 21 percent from three-point range. Joshua Braun led the Lopes with 12 points on 4-of-9 shooting from the field.

"It's three straight games now where we have not shot the ball well in the second half," assistant coach TJ Benson said following the game. "They hit tough shots all night long and I think that is really the story of the game."

The Lopes led by as many as six early in the first half, getting out to 23-17 advantage after a pair of Grandy Glaze free throws. A 9-2 run by the Aggies put the home team up 26-25, with GCU's two points amid the run coming on a pair of free throws from Braun before the Lopes went cold. The Lopes closed the first half shooting 2 for their final 12 shots from the field and failing to score over the final 4:12. They entered the locker room trailing by five, 32-27.

This was not uncharted territory for the Lopes as they were down four at the half in their win over the Aggies at Grand Canyon University Arena on Jan. 9. In their previous matchup, Braun led the charge out of the half scoring five points to spark a 10-4 run to give the Lopes a 45-43 advantage, and the Aggies would never lead again.

Braun tried to write the same script as he scored right away to start the second half. Fellow Lou Henson Award watch list member Pascal Siakam answered right back to keep GCU from drawing even closer.

At the 16:11 mark, Grand Canyon pulled within six points after a Glaze jumper. From that point on, however, New Mexico State shut down the Lopes' offensive attack to grab leads as big as 22 down the stretch. The Aggies used six blocked shots in the second half to limit the Lopes to 24 percent shooting.

In addition to Braun's 12 points, DeWayne Russell also chipped in 12 including a pair of three-pointers.

Looking to shake their first losing streak of the season, Grand Canyon heads to Edinburg, Texas to face UT Rio Grande Valley.

"Our guys have to stay together," Benson said. "Saturday's a big game. This is a little adversity that we haven't had this year. Just getting back on the floor and finding a way to prepare ourselves mentally, physically and get ready for those guys."

Tip-off on Saturday is set for 6:00 p.m. MT and available on KXXT 1010 AM.