Lopes extend winning streak to seven with win in regular season finale

Saturday, March 4

Bakersfield, Calif.

8:30 P.M.

Grand Canyon

22-9, 11-3WAC

CSU Bakersfield

21-8, 12-2WAC

Grand Canyon

CSU Bakersfield

Lopes extend winning streak to seven with win in regular season finale

3/4/2017 9:24:00 PM | Men's Basketball

Box Score

By: Charles Hampton

Bakersfield, Calif. -- The Grand Canyon men's basketball team extended their season-long winning streak to seven games as they took down CSU Bakersfield 58-52 in their regular season finale on Saturday night at the Icardo Center in Bakersfield, Calif.

Joshua Braun led GCU in scoring with 16 points, including four 3-pointers. Keonta Vernon added 11 points and 12 rebounds, recording his team-best eighth double-double of the season.

The Lopes struggled from the field to open the game, hitting just one of their first seven shots. They kept it close on the defensive end by forcing five turnovers in the opening five minutes of the game. Bakersfield got out to a 9-5 advantage, but a pair of free throws from Fiifi Aidoo and a 3-pointer from Braun gave the Lopes a 10-9 advantage at the second media timeout.

GCU continued its hot shooting as Braun hit two more 3-pointers as the Lopes extended the run to 15-straight points to open up a 20-9 advantage. Bakersfield answered back with a 9-2 run to cut the GCU lead back to four, 22-18, before Aidoo found Martin in the corner for a 3-pointer. Following a Clark bucket inside, Aidoo was the benefactor of a great pass as DeWayne Russell found him at the elbow for another triple. The 8-0 run gave the Lopes a 12-point advantage with 3:40 to play in the half.

Russell was held scoreless for the first 19 minutes of the game, but he got on the board with a pair of free throws with 25 seconds remaining to give GCU a 37-23 lead at intermission. For the first half, the Lopes outshot the Runners from the field 37.1 percent to 29.6 percent. They also held the rebounding edge, 25-17, including eight offensive rebounds. The Lopes forced nine CSUB turnovers in the half which lead to 12 points, while the Runners only scored 3 points off GCU's five turnovers.

The second half started off much like the first, with a lot of missed shots and sloppy play, but the Lopes extended their lead to 16 when Russell hit from outside at the wing. On the next trip down the court, Russell hit Vernon with a no-look pass in the paint as Vernon finished for two.

An 8-0 run from Bakersfield cut the GCU lead to eight at 45-37 with 10 minutes to play in the game. A free throw from Russell and a pair from Braun stopped the bleeding and opened the Lopes' lead back to 11. The Runners came right back as Justin Pride made the steal and took it in for a layup while drawing a foul on Russell. The officials reviewed and switched the call to a flagrant foul. Pride hit both flagrant free throws to pull the Runners within seven 48-41.

Play was stopped on the following play as officials had to break up shoving between the two schools going into the media timeout. After GCU extended the lead back to double-digits, Jaylin Airington hit a 3-pointer at the top of the key with six minutes to play in the game.

Things continued to be chippy from the two teams. The Lopes had ample opportunities to put the game away, but couldn't capitalize from the free throw line, missing 12 second-half free throws.

Following a Damiyne Durham three in the corner and the Runners forcing a turnover, Vernon came up with a steal and outlet it to Russell who drew the foul and hit both free throws to push the GCU lead back to six. The Runners answered right back as Vernon fouled Airington in corner on a 3-point attempt. Airington hit all three free throws to pull Bakersfield within three. After both teams got a stop, the Lopes looked to put the game away for good with 30 seconds to play.

Russell got an open look on the play along the baseline, but couldn't get it to go down as both teams battled for the rebound. Vernon came out with the ball and immediately cleared it out to Aidoo, who was fouled with 17 seconds to play. Aidoo hit 1-of-2 to push the GCU lead to two possessions.

Following a Bray Barnes miss for Bakersfield, Vernon grabbed the rebound and hit two free throws to seal the 58-52 win for GCU. The loss was Bakersfield's first loss at home this season after winning its first 12 home games of the season.

For the game, the Lopes shot 28.8 percent from the field, but held the Runners to 26.8 percent. GCU held the edge behind the arc, hitting 7-of-18, while limiting CSUB to 5-of-22 from outside. Bakersfield held the advantage from the free throw line, hitting nearly 90 percent of its 19 attempts, while the Lopes hit just 21-of-33 from the charity stripe.

The Lopes will get a little bit of a break now as they are not eligible to participate in the WAC Basketball Tournament in Las Vegas, Nev., before potentially continuing with postseason tournament play, to be announced at a later date.