Vernon lifts Lopes over Vaqueros

Thursday, February 9

Phoenix, Ariz.

7:00 P.M.

Grand Canyon

16-9, 5-3WAC

UT Rio Grande Valley

10-16, 2-7WAC

UTRGV

Grand Canyon

2/9/2017 9:10:00 PM | Men's Basketball

Box Score

By: Jake Hernandez

PHOENIX – The Grand Canyon men's basketball team defeated UTRGV, 76-57 on Thursday night. The Lopes (16-9, 5-3) improve to 11-3 at home this season and trail New Mexico State by 2.5 games in the Western Athletic Conference standings. Keonta Vernon recorded 18 points and 12 rebounds for his seventh double-double of the season.

"I thought defensively we were pretty good," GCU head coach Dan Majerle commented. "We really did a good job... this is a team that scores a lot of points, we battled and did a really good job in the last three to four minutes of the half making a run, 16-4, got some stops, got some steals, got out and we were able to push it."

Vernon recorded his seventh double-double of the season off 18 points (7-for-11) while grabbing 12 rebounds. Joshua Braun had 17 points (5-of-10) with five assists and five boards and redshirt freshmen Kenzo Nudo recorded a career-high 10 points (4-of-5) in 14 minutes of action. DeWayne Russell, the WAC leader in points and assists, recorded his 26-straight game with double-figure points off 14 points (4-for-11).

"We are better in transition," Majerle added. "I always tell the guys we want to run, we want to run. You can't do that unless you get stops and we were able to do that and we were able to break the game open and do that."

After a quick 5-0 start for the Lopes, both offenses slowed as they failed to shoot 30 percent in the first nine minutes of the contest. Started by back-to-back 3-pointers by Gerard Martin, the Lopes found their rhythm to go on an 11-0 run in less than two minutes to take a 26-14 lead. The Vaqueros quickly responded with their own 7-0 run to cut the Lopes' lead to 28-24 with less than five minutes to go in the half.

To end the half, Russell hit a buzzer beater 3-pointer to put the Lopes up 46-30. GCU would end the half on 52 percent shooting from the field while holding UTRGV to only 35 percent. Braun led all scorers with 14 points off 4-of-6 shooting. Vernon and Russell followed with 11 and 10 points, respectively. Braun, Russell and Vernon accounted for 35 of GCU's 46 points at the break.

Finding their rhythm late into the 2nd half, the Lopes went on a 7-0 run to create a 62-39 lead at the 12:51 mark. Vernon continued his strong play into the 2nd half as the junior scored eight points off 3-of-5 shooting. Nudo joined the Lopes offensively as he recorded eight of his 10 points in the 2nd Half. The Lopes took their largest lead of 25 points at the 9:53 mark and never looked back.

GCU's defense shined against UTRGV as the Lopes forced 18 turnovers. The Lopes recorded eight steals, including four from Russell. UTRGV's Antonio Green, the leading 3-pointer shooter in the country, was held to only 10 points off 1-of-9 shooting beyond the arc. The Vaqueros were held to only 11 percent (3-for-37) shooting from the 3-point arc. UTRGV's Nick Dixon led the Vaqueros with a game-high 23 points (9-of-13).

The four-game homestand continues for Grand Canyon with New Mexico State set to visit GCU Arena. Tipoff is set for 7:00 p.m. MST on Saturday, Feb. 11, airing on 3TV Arizona and heard on iHeart Radio.