Lopes take rough loss vs. tough Aggies

Thursday, January 11

Phoenix, Ariz.

7 p.m.

Grand Canyon

11-6, 1-1

New Mexico State

14-3, 2-0

New Mexico State

Grand Canyon

1/11/2018 10:30:00 PM | Men's Basketball, Paul Coro

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New Mexico State outrebounded GCU, 50-25

By: Paul Coro

If Grand Canyon is not going to shoot well, the Lopes certainly are not able to be outworked … on their home floor … against the conference's power team.

New Mexico State doubled GCU in rebounds, 50-25, which showed just how much of a chance the Lopes had to win Saturday night before collapsing late in a 70-59 loss at GCU Arena.

The Lopes rocked a record crowd of 7,521 fans by rallying from 13 points down in the first half and taking a lead for most of the second half's first eight minutes. From there, the arena turned grave from GCU's cold shooting that allowed the Aggies to have a 21-5 run in the clutch.

The Lopes (11-6) missed 10 shots in a row to lose the lead, including settling for 3-point shots on six of the possessions. Freshman center Alessandro Lever made a jump shot to cut NMSU's lead to 58-55 with 6:25 to play but the Lopes missed seven more shots in a row to end an eight-game WAC winning streak.

"I'm at a loss for words," GCU head coach Dan Majerle said. "We've hung our hat on defense and for the most part, rebounding all year. We didn't do any of that.

"When you get outrebounded 50 to 25 on your home court, something is wrong. They were a lot tougher than we were. They were better than we were. Hopefully, that's a wakeup call for everyone. We can't score. I don't know what to do. Not making shots, not making layups, not making 3s."

The Lopes were one for 14 on 3-point shots in the second half, when keeping NMSU (14-3) to 35.7 percent field goal shooting still did not keep the Aggies from outscoring GCU, 33-22, in the half.

GCU shot less than 40 percent for the seventh game this season but this 34.4 percent shooting game was the season's second-lowest clip.

"We couldn't get some offense going," said GCU senior guard Joshua Braun, who scored a team-high 15 points. "We'll be OK. We just need to buckle down, get stops and get tough on the boards."

The Lopes fell into a 27-14 hole through less than 12 minutes of play but had their best stretch of offense to erase it. Braun hit a 3-pointer to spark a 17-6 run that included the Lopes scoring on six consecutive possessions with a highlight slam follow by senior power forward Keonta Vernon, who tallied 12 points and 12 rebounds in 24 minutes of play.

Majerle was expressively elated with the close to the first half, when junior forward Gerard Martin created a turnover on a post trap and junior forward Matt Jackson hit a jump shot for a 37-37 halftime tie.

But even a deadlocked half opened with NMSU grabbing 17 of the game's first 21 rebounds.

"Our coaching staff has a lot of work to do," Majerle said. "We have to figure it out and we will. But our players have to take a long look in the mirror and figure out how you can get beat that bad at home on the boards. I have never seen anything like it."

NMSU senior guard Zach Lofton scored 29 points, following Seattle guard Jordan Hill's 26-point game against GCU last weekend. Aggies forward Jemerrio Jones, ninth in the nation at 11.4 rebounds per game, grabbed 15 rebounds in 23 minutes before leaving hurt.

The Lopes did follow up on their improved ballhandling, going from one second-half turnover in Saturday's win at Seattle to only seven turnovers on Saturday. Senior point guard Casey Benson started despite injuring his shoulder at Seattle and missing practice time.

"We get to see them again at their place and we've got the WAC tournament," Braun said. "It's far from over. It's just early on. We'll be ready. We'll be all right."

Follow Paul Coro on Twitter: @paulcoro.