Lopes hold off Redhawks for third straight win

Thursday, February 16

Seattle, Wash.

8:00 P.M.

Grand Canyon

Seattle

Photo by: Darryl Webb

2/16/2017 10:22:00 PM | Men's Basketball

Box Score

By: Charles Hampton

The Grand Canyon men's basketball team overcame a large first half deficit and held on for a 61-58 win over Seattle U at the Connolly Complex in Seattle, Wash., on Thursday night.

The first half of the contest started off much like the first half at GCU Arena on Jan. 21, where the Lopes had to overcome a 14-point first half deficit to win the game. The Redhawks got out to a quick 6-0 start as the Lopes missed their first four shots of the contest.

Trailing 8-2, GCU answered with a 7-0 run to take lead thanks to buckets in the paint from Clark, Frayer and Vernon. As quickly as they got back in it though, Seattle responded with a 16-0 run over the next four minutes to open up a commanding 24-9 lead before Kerwin Smith ended the 0-for-9 drought with a hook in the paint.

A 12-0 run, highlighted by a pair of 3-point plays from Shaq Carr pulled the Lopes within one point, 27-26, with just under five minutes left in the first half. The Lopes held the Redhawks to only one basket for over nine minutes. Russell, the 10th leading scorer in the country didn't' score his first points until 3:45 left in the half when he hit a pair of free throws to give GCU its first lead of the game, 28-27.

Following a Seattle 3-pointer to reclaim the lead for the Redhawks, Russell hit his first field goal of the game with a 3-pointer at the top of the key as the shot clock was expiring. The Russell triple sparked another 10-0 run from GCU to end the half as they opened up an 8-point lead at intermission, 38-30.

The Lopes shot 37.8 percent from the field in the first half, including 3-of-11 from 3-point range. GCU didn't hit a shot from behind the arc until Aidoo drilled a triple from deep 13 minutes into the contest. The Lopes had missed their first six attempts from downtown before Aidoo connected. Seattle U was able to keep Russell and Joshua Braun from scoring as they combined for just 10 first half points. Braun didn't connect on his first shot until hitting a corner 3-pointer with less than a minute to play in the half.

After four quick points to start the second half for the Redhawks, Braun hit his second straight triple and Clark threw down a fast break slam to push the lead to nine points. Both teams continued their hot shooting to start the half as the Lopes hit six of their first 10 shots, while Seattle hit seven of their first 10 shots.

Seattle pulled within five points after a William Powell layup, but then Smith hit shots in the lane on consecutive possessions, drawing a foul on the latter and converting the 3-point play to push the lead back to 10 points. Smith was the first GCU player to reach double-figures.

Despite the hot shooting from both teams to start the second half, both teams went ice cold after the first seven minutes. Both the Redhawks and Lopes went five minutes without a point as GCU held an 8-point advantage with 8:21 remaining in the game.

Seattle pulled within one point as the Lopes shooting woes continued. The 10 minute drought finally ended as Keonta Vernon hit an inside jumper with 3:33 to play in the game. With the Lopes leading by two and 1:27 to play, Powell drew a Vernon foul to go to the line for two shots. He hit 1-of-2 and GCU held on to a 1-point lead. Russell followed that with a runner in the lane to push the lead back to three.

After forcing a Seattle turnover with 39 seconds to play, the Redhawks forced a turnover from Carr to give the ball back to Seattle. With 17 seconds remaining, Emmanuel Chibougwu missed a 3-point attempt at the wing and Seattle was forced to foul Braun with 11.9 remaining.

Braun, the best free throw shooter in the WAC last season, missed the front end of the 1-and-1 and Seattle pushed back up the floor. Brendan Westendorf drove the late looking for the quick bucket, but Frayer recovered and swatted the shot over to Russell who was fouled with four seconds to play.

Like Braun, Russell missed the front end of the 1-and-1 and Westendorf again frantically pushed the ball up the court, but instead of launching up a shot, the senior called timeout with 0.8 seconds to go. On the inbounds play, Westendorf caught the pass with his back to the basket near half court and heaved a desperation three that failed to go and GCU came away with the 61-58 win.

GCU shot 39 percent from the field, while holding Seattle to just 35 percent from the field. The Lopes hit only one second half 3-pointer and shot 4-of-20 from behind the arc. The Lopes controlled the boards though with a 48-28 advantage, including 17 offensive rebounds. Those 17 offensive rebounds led to 21 second chance points.

Russell and Smith tied for the team lead with 11 points, while Darion Clark added 10. Russell extended his streak of consecutive games scoring in double-figures to 29, reaching the mark on his final shot of the contest with one minute to play. Frayer tied his career-high with 12 rebounds. Martin led the squad with 4 assists while Carr and Frayer each added 3.

The conference road trip will continue as GCU next heads to Utah Valley, where they will take on the Wolverines on Saturday at the UCCU Center. Tip-off is scheduled for 7 p.m. MST.