Lopes rally in second half to down Vaqueros

Saturday, February 6

Edinburg, Texas

6 p.m.

Grand Canyon

20-4, 7-2WAC

UT Rio Grande Valley

6-18, 2-7WAC

Grand Canyon

UT Rio Grande Valley

Photo by: Darryl Webb

2/6/2016 11:35:00 PM | Men's Basketball

Box Score

By: Charles Hampton

The Grand Canyon men's basketball team overcame a 19-point deficit to snap a two-game losing streak, defeating UT Rio Grande Valley 64-58 at UTRGV Fieldhouse in Edinburg, Texas on Saturday night.

Grandy Glaze recorded his eighth double-double of the season, scoring 18 points and grabbing 13 rebounds. Joshua Braun scored a game-high 20 points, including 14 in the second-half to nail down win no. 20 of the season for the Lopes, who improved to 20-4 on the season and 7-2 in Western Athletic Conference play.

"It sure sounds better than it feels," head coach Dan Majerle said of GCU getting its 20thwin. "I'm never satisfied and I don't want to be satisfied because we are so far away from where we have to be. Twenty wins was a goal of ours, obviously-we made it-but it sure doesn't feel like it right now. But I'm happy, I'm happy for our guys, I just want us to keep progressing and getting better. We've got such a long way to go and we can do so much more. "

The Lopes have struggled shooting from the field in recent weeks and it looked like that was going to be the case again. Up one point with just over 12 minutes to go in the first half, the Vaqueros went on a 25-7 run over the next 10 minutes to open up a 36-17 lead.

Grand Canyon was 8-of-24 (33.3 percent) from the field in the first half, including 0-for-5 from three-point range. UTRGV took advantage of the Lopes' shooting woes, hitting 45.5 percent (15-of-33) of their shots in the first half, including connecting on seven of their 15 three-point attempts. UTRGV took a 39-23 lead into halftime, capitalizing on the Lopes' 10 first-half turnovers, resulting in 14 Vaquero's points.

"The worst first half I've ever seen," Majerle said of his team's first 20 minutes of play. "It was absolutely ridiculous, the way we started off, nobody wanted to shoot the ball. We couldn't make shots again. Our bench came in and did the same thing. We had 10 turnovers and they weren't even forced turnovers. We just came out not ready to play."

Grand Canyon got Majerle's message at the half, coming back out on the court with an increased enthusiasm and aggressiveness. Glaze scored in the first 90 seconds of the second half and the Lopes started clawing their way back in it. They scored the first 12 points of the second half, holding the Vaqueros without a point for the first six minutes, allowing Grand Canyon to cut the lead to four points.

The two teams traded baskets before UTRGV extended the lead back up to seven after Everett Osborne made a layup while drawing the foul to complete the three-point play. De'Andre Davis and Keonta Vernon each hit jumpers to bring the Lopes within three, when Braun popped off a screen at the top of the key and drilled a contested three to tie the game and swing the momentum back in Grand Canyon's way. The Lopes were 0-for-6 from behind the arc before Braun hit two second-half threes.

Each time the Vaqueros tried to retake the lead, Braun answered with a big shot or by finding his way to the free throw line where he was 10-of-13 for the night. Braun, Glaze and Vernon combined to score 53 of the Lopes' 64 points for the game. Vernon added 7 rebounds, an assist and a steal in 31 minutes.

Grand Canyon outscored UTRGV 41-19 in the second half. The two teams each had 19 first-half rebounds, but the Lopes took control of the boards in the second half, finishing with a 45-29 advantage for the game on the glass. They shot 46.7 percent from the field in the second half, finishing the game with a more respectable 40.7 percent mark.

The Lopes won't have much time to rest as they will return to action on Tuesday, Jan. 9, 2016 as they host Benedictine University at Mesa. Tip-off from Grand Canyon University Arena is at 7 p.m.