Lopes win keeps options open

Monday, November 20

Phoenix, Ariz.

7 p.m.

Grand Canyon

4-0

Norfolk State

0-4

Norfolk State

Grand Canyon

Photo by: Slaven Gujic

11/20/2017 9:58:00 PM | Men's Basketball, Paul Coro

Box Score Dan Majerle Press Conference Photo Gallery

GCU downs Norfolk State 85-60 with Benson, Frayer scoring

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

The Grand Canyon men's basketball team is full of options.

The Lopes have scoring options when Joshua Braun has an off-shooting night. The Lopes have a point guard with the option to score or facilitate. The Lopes have a roster that regularly gives head coach Dan Majerle options to go 11 players deep in the first half.

All of that was at play Monday night, when a GCU sluggish start turned into another GCU rout. The Lopes (4-0) tied the program's Division I record for 3-pointers by making 14 of them in an 85-60 victory against Norfolk State in front of 6,889 fans at GCU Arena.

Braun, the previous Lopes win's sharpshooter, made two of eight 3s on Monday but his teammates went 12 for 18 on 3s for the team's season-high scoring total. Senior point guard Casey Benson and sophomore small forward Oscar Frayer each made four to extend GCU's win streak to 11, the longest active win streak in Division I.

Frayer tied a career high with 19 points while Benson recorded his third consecutive double-digit scoring game, the longest streak of his four-year career.

Benson was asked to largely be a facilitator in three seasons at Oregon but GCU needs more from him than his reputation for leadership and passing. Benson can be one of the team's best scorers and showed it by making all four of his 3-point tries Monday, including one from five feet beyond the arc.

Benson finished Monday's win with 15 points, two off his career high, and eight assists, one off his career high.

"Be aggressive every time I come off a screen or every time I have the ball," Benson said of his approach. "Look to score. Once I look to score, it opens things up for everybody else."

The Lopes recorded their second consecutive 25-point win in a row but it did not appear to be headed that way when Norfolk State took a 17-16 lead with eight minutes remaining in the half.

Majerle went to junior power forward Kerwin Smith, his 11^th player used, with four starters and the Lopes closed the half on a 21-5 run.

"I think the biggest thing was energy," Benson said of the turnaround. "We came out a little bit flat. We can't do that. Against good teams, we have to come out ready from the tip. We had some turnovers early on that fueled them and regrouped once we went to the bench."

The Lopes' starters kept stretching the lead in the first five minutes of the second half with a 49-24 lead spurred by back-to-back Benson 3-pointers. At that point, the Lopes defense was holding Norfolk State to 30 percent shooting from the field after holding their first three opponents to 33.1 percent shooting.

The Spartans then scored 32 points over the next nine minutes but the GCU offense remained strong enough to stay well ahead.

"I'm not happy with the second half," Majerle said. "I told the team, 'If you want to be a good defensive team, you can't be a good defensive team for 20 minutes,' which we were for the first half."

When GCU pulled away in the first half, it was Frayer (11 points) and freshman power forward Roberts Blumbergs (12 points) carrying the offense. Blumbergs has started since the opener but he posted his best game Monday with 14 points, eight rebounds and six assists.

Frayer scored in transition as usual but made four of six 3-point shots on his 19-point, six-rebound, two-steal night.

"It was a point of emphasis for me over the summer," Frayer said. "Coach Majerle told me I couldn't shoot. I was just getting in the gym, working and grinding every day."

Frayer, a 25.7 percent 3-point shooter last season, is now seven for 11 on 3-pointers in the past three games. His first one Monday came from Braun kicking out the ball on a post-up. Frayer also is showing the ability to pull up in transition for 3s. It is a huge addition to his game, which already is providing 6.3 rebounds and 2.0 steals per game.

"If he continues to work on that and gets better with his shot, he's going to be hard to guard," Majerle said. "I always tells Oscar, 'You've got to be our best defender. You've got to be our best rebounder. If you want to be a scorer, you're not going to be very good.' Energy finds the ball with him. If he does the stuff he needs to do with rebounding and defense, he's going to find a way to score and the ball's going to find him. He's starting to buy into that."

GCU, ranked 25th in the collegeinsider.com Mid-Major Top 25, and San Diego (4-0) are now 3-0 in Grand Canyon Classic round-robin play with the teams meeting Saturday night at GCU Arena in the series' final game.

Follow Paul Coro on Twitter: @paulcoro.