Lopes drop exhibition at Nevada minus Braun, 3s

Sunday, October 22

Reno, Nev.

4 p.m.

Grand Canyon

Nevada

Grand Canyon

Nevada

10/22/2017 7:44:00 PM | Men's Basketball, Paul Coro

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GCU challenged Mountain West favorite despite cold shooting

By: <a href="http://gculopes.com/index.aspx?path=coro">Paul Coro</a>

RENO, Nev. – The Grand Canyon men's basketball team was on the road Sunday. The Lopes were playing a team that is picked to repeat as a conference champion. The Lopes were missing their preseason conference player of the year pick and nearly every 3-point shot that they took.

Despite all of the undesireables, GCU led Nevada entering the last minute of the exhibition game's first half. But icy 3-point shooting and a dicey 3-minute stretch did in the Lopes. They lost, 81-72, to Nevada at Lawlor Events Center, where all proceeds from 3,072 tickets sold went to the North Bay Fire Relief fund.

GCU senior guard Joshua Braun, voted top player in Western Athletic Conference preseason polls, is at the end of concussion protocol but was held out of Sunday's game for precautionary reasons. Without their top shooter, the Lopes made two of 25 3-point attempts and missed 17 in a row.

GCU still led 35-30 and held a lead into the first half's final minute before trailing only 41-40 at halftime to the Mountain West Conference favorite. Nevada opened the second half with a 14-0 run that was too much for the Lopes to overcome.

"Unfortunately we had that happen all last year," GCU head coach Dan Majerle said. "Our guys come out and they're lackadaisical and not on point. We go from one down to 15 down. You can't build that kind of hole. I told our guys, 'That's not going to happen this year.'

"We got good open shots. But we have to do a better job of coming out ready to battle."

In the game's other 37 minutes, the Lopes outscored the Wolf Pack by six points. GCU rebounded well, scored more often in the paint, hit free throws and took care of the ball after a sloppy start. The Lopes shot 53 percent inside the arc but could not find one hot hand among seven shooters from 3-point distance.

Sophomore wing Oscar Frayer led GCU in scoring with 15 points. He missed five 3-pointers but flourished on drives and pull-ups, hitting seven of 13 shots inside the arc. Frayer said he would have thought the team "would be getting blasted" if he knew the Lopes would have a 1-for-16 first half from 3-point range.

"We were only down one after that," Frayer said. "That shows how much heart we have and how deep we are."

The Lopes started Casey Benson at the point with senior Shaq Carr in Braun's guard spot, Frayer and freshman Roberts Blumbergs at forwards and senior Keonta Vernon at center. Eleven Lopes played, including three freshmen with Blumbergs scoring GCU's first five points, power forward Alessandro Lever getting 10 minutes and point guard Damari Milstead giving a second-half boost in his eight minutes.

"It was a good test to see where we're at and what we need to work on," Benson said after his GCU debut. "Obviously, we have a long ways to go, which we knew. It was good to get out there and get a good barometer. They might be one of the three most athletic teams we'll play all year. From top to bottom, we just have to make shots.

"Not having Josh is big. He stretches the floor and gives us a big threat but we've all got to be better. We'll get there."

The Lopes had their best stretch of the game with a 10-0 run in the first half that gave them a 31-26 lead. It started with Frayer's 3-point play on a baseline drive and his follow score on the next trip. Junior Gerard Martin also added a 3-point play inside. But seven of their next nine shots were missed 3s to let Nevada tie the score.

"Our guys are better shooters than that," Majerle said with less than three weeks to go until the regular-season opener at GCU Arena on Nov. 10. "First game, they were a little nervous probably on the road. We have to learn from our mistakes. We got pushed around a little bit in our offense from some of the things we want to do. We'll work on it. Not bad.

"I love Josh. Josh is our best player. If Josh goes down, we have to win without him. We're not hinging our whole season on Josh Braun. We've got enough good players that we can win."

Follow Paul Coro on Twitter: @paulcoro.