Lever, Braun lead road rout

Thursday, January 18

Chicago, Ill.

6 P.M.

Grand Canyon

13-6, 3-1WAC

Chicago State

2-19, 0-4WAC

Grand Canyon

Chicago State

1/18/2018 9:20:00 PM | Men's Basketball, Paul Coro

Box Score

Lopes hold Chicago State to 34.5 percent shooting

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

CHICAGO – Chicago State was the home team Thursday night but Grand Canyon was the show, whether it was a dominant win, a noticeable throng of fans or two NBA players in the crowd to support their Lopes friends.

Golden State's Jordan Bell came to back former Oregon teammate Casey Benson and Chicago's Lauri Markkannen showed for Finnish countryman Fiifi Aidoo. But it was freshman center Alessandro Lever, senior guard Joshua Braun and the GCU defense that starred in an 86-58 Lopes conference victory at Jones Convocation Center.

Roberts Blumbergs' GCU Division I true freshman record of 25 points on Saturday lasted five days with Lever making 11 of 14 shots Thursday to score 28 points at Chicago State. Lever more than doubled his previous season high of 13 points against Illinois by using his 6-foot-10 frame and post moves to score six points during a tone-setting 8-1 start to the game.

GCU scored 32 points in the paint to build a 40-21 halftime lead. The Lopes closed the half with scores on seven consecutive possessions, five of which came from Lever.

"We worked all week on getting the ball inside and did a good job of that," GCU head coach Dan Majerle said. "I'm going to keep throwing the ball inside to Roberts, Keonta (Vernon) and Ali and keep working on their post moves. I think we shoot better when it goes inside-out. Ali's talented down there and it's my job to get him working down there to get him better and get us better. We're going to try to do that most games."

The Lopes (13-6, 3-1) enjoyed two 20-point scorers in a game for the first time since last year's trip to Chicago. Braun continued his best three-game scoring stretch since the season's first three games by racking up 23 points in 23 minutes on nine-of-13 shooting.

Braun used mid-range jumpers and drives before extending his shooting to the perimeter, where he is eight for 15 on 3-pointers in the past three games.

"I'm just telling myself that I know I'm a good shooter and I'm going to shoot with confidence," Braun said. "I praise God for giving me the opportunity to come out and play. The fact that I'm still playing college basketball and I got the chance to play at Grand Canyon is glory to Him. I'm excited every chance I get to play. I'm ready to let it fly when I know I can knock it down. I appreciate my teammates for getting me open on screens, finding me open and playing as hard as they do."

GCU shot 51.6 percent from the field for its third-highest scoring total while its 11^th-ranked scoring defense held Chicago State to 34.5 percent shooting from the field. The Lopes have held 11 of their 19 opponents to less than 40 percent shooting this season.

The Cougars (2-19, 0-4) had challenged New Mexico State at home for a half and led late at Seattle but never threatened GCU. Chicago State committed 22 turnovers, the second-most of any opponent this season.

Lopes sophomore forward Oscar Frayer was mostly responsible for holding down Chicago State leading scorer Fred Sims Jr. to two points. Sims entered the game with a 14.5 scoring average but went one for eight from the field in 25 minutes on Thursday.

"Oscar did a great job on defense but it's not too much for a coach to ask for great defense and to crash the boards," Majerle said.

The Lopes won by 25 or more points for the seventh time this season but still irked their coach when a 30-point lead slipped to less than 20 during the second half. GCU went from dominating the boards, 26-11, in the first half to getting outrebounded, 21-18, in the second half.

Benson added six assists without a turnover while fellow senior Keonta Vernon tallied nine points, seven rebounds and four assists.

"I thought the second unit wasn't very good, which is disappointing," Majerle said. "In the second half, we did what most bad teams do. We just played. We didn't put our foot on their throat. Rebounding, we weren't very good. Defense, we weren't very good. We just didn't have that killer instinct.

"We could've held them down. We're just too nice. We should have just put a foot on their throat and just ended it. We let them start trading baskets and stopped guarding."

Follow Paul Coro on Twitter: @paulcoro.