Lopes win eighth straight home game

Tuesday, January 17

Phoenix, Ariz.

7:00 P.M.

Grand Canyon

12-7

San Diego Christian College (Calif.)

5-11

San Diego Christian College

Grand Canyon

1/17/2017 9:34:00 PM | Men's Basketball

Box Score

By: Charles Hampton

The Grand Canyon men's basketball team won their eighth straight home game as they cruised to a 90-58 win over San Diego Christian College at GCU Arena on Tuesday night.

Joshua Braun led the Lopes with 20 points on 6-of-11 shooting from the field. DeWayne Russell added 17 points, 4 steals and 3 assists. The Lopes had four players score in double figures with Oscar Frayer and Shaq Carr scoring 14 and 10 points, respectively.

"We started off good and then we made some subs or whatever and we let them right back in the game," head coach Dan Majerle said. "We turned the ball over a little too much. Defensively we weren't very good in that first half when they were able to cut it to 10. Then we came out in the second half and locked in a little bit and got it going. Overall, very good win for us. Now we can move on and start really concentrating on Seattle."

The Lopes took control from the start, leading be as many 22 in the first half, shooting 58.6 percent from the field in the first half. GCU's scoring presence was felt especially in the paint where they outscored San Diego Christian 28-12 in the paint. Keonta Vernon and Kerwin Smith combined to go 6-for-6 from the field in the half.

GCU got a scare from Russell at the end of the half as the senior from Peoria, Ariz., had to be carried off the court after a collision in the lane. Russell, who entered the game ranked third in the country in minutes played, missed the final 4:32 of the first half. Russell's exit quieted the GCU crowd and the Lopes took a 43-33 lead into the half.

"If you ever bang knees with somebody, it's really painful," Majerle said. "It's just a contusion on the bone. He got some ice on it and he said he wanted to play. He was hobbling a little bit around in that second half. He's one of those guys that's going to play no matter what. He was fine."

At the start of the second half, Russell was back on the floor and quickly hit a layup to extend his GCU-record of 22 consecutive games scoring in double-figures. The Lopes built their lead back up to 20 points following an offensive rebound and put back from Carr with eight minutes remaining in the game. Russell sparked a 10-0 run to open up a 29-point lead with seven consecutive points before Majerle gave his star a rest for the final five minutes of the contest.

Ten different Lopes scored in the game, which led to a 36-4 bench scoring advantage. GCU also shot 58.6 percent from the floor. After hitting only 1-of-8 3-pointers in the first half, the Lopes connected on 5-of-9 in the second half.

WAC play will resume on Saturday night as GCU hosts Seattle U. A year ago, the Redhawks snapped the Lopes' national-leading 14-game winning streak. Tip-off is scheduled for 7 pm MST.