Lopes start strong, finish wrong

Saturday, January 27

Orem, Utah

3 p.m.

Grand Canyon

15-7, 4-2

Utah Valley

16-6, 5-1

Grand Canyon

Utah Valley

1/27/2018 7:39:00 PM | Men's Basketball, Paul Coro

Box Score

GCU led 14-2 at Utah Valley until the tide turned

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

OREM, Utah – All was well in the Grand Canyon men's basketball world at about 3:30 p.m. Saturday.

The Lopes were leading on the road. No, they were dominating. In an important conference game, GCU led 14-2 after nearly 10 minutes of play to the delight of a corner of the UCCU Center, where cheers came from Lopes fans and eight Havocs students who drove from Phoenix.

It was a fleeting rainbow before the storm. Utah Valley wiped away GCU's lead in a blip, shot 56 percent for the remainder of the game and took sole possession of second place in the Western Athletic Conference with a 68-56 victory.

The Lopes averaged 88.0 points during their four-game winning streak but struggled to make shots, even point-blank ones, and take care of the ball. A second-half string of 10 consecutive missed shots sent UVU (16-6, 5-1) on its way to its first win against GCU (15-7, 4-2) since Feb. 6, 2014.

"The story of the game is the turnovers," Lopes head coach Dan Majerle said. "We had 16 turnovers for 21 points. You can't turn the ball over against a team that really doesn't turn teams over. You shouldn't be making those kinds of turnovers. Offensively, it's going to be hard for us to beat anybody if we score 56 points. We just have to do a better job and keep working at it."

Freshman center Alessandro Lever led GCU in scoring for a fourth consecutive game, giving him averages of 24.3 points and 7.5 rebounds during that stretch.

Lever was there to bail out the offense after it collapsed in the first half. Four consecutive GCU turnovers started an 11-0 UVU run that wiped out an 11-point lead in 2:05 of play.

"When you don't get shots, it's a killer," said senior Casey Benson, who tallied nine points, seven rebounds and five assists with three turnovers.

GCU went nearly six minutes without a field goal but re-established its offense with Lever early in the second half, even tying the game with 13:12 to play on a transition 3-pointer by Benson.

But the Lopes could not sustain the offensive efficiency to keep up with the Wolverines, who got into the lane by dribble drives and pick-and-rolls repeatedly. GCU also fouled 25 times with leading scorer Joshua Braun fouling out after taking one shot and scoring one point in 24 minutes.

The Lopes fell behind by 13 points with 4:04 to go in the game after missing 10 consecutive shots, five of which were in the lane.

"We obviously had a really good start to the game but turnovers fueled them," Benson said. "We let them get some easy baskets to get going. It's definitely one we let slip away when you have such a good start and outrebounded them like we did (44-28). It's frustrating but we've got to get back into it at practice and bounce back Thursday (at home vs. UMKC)."

The Lopes shot 37.3 percent from the field Saturday after shooting 53.1 percent during the winning streak. GCU only made five second-half turnovers but missed scoring opportunities at the rim to keep pace with UVU, which had a balanced attack and only seven turnovers.

It was a disappointing ending for GCU after a remarkable start. The Lopes held the WAC's top offense scoreless for the first 5:24 and kept the Wolverines to two points in the first 9:54.

GCU sophomore forward Oscar Frayer added 11 points and nine rebounds but he missed nine of 13 shots. Lever faced more size, including 7-footer Akolda Manyang, than in recent games but still made nine of 17 shots. His first eight made shots all came in the paint before he added a late 3-pointer.

"He's going to be really good if he keeps working at it," Majerle said. "He keeps working at it. He can't get frustrated. He shows his emotion sometimes, which I'm talking to him about. It just shows how hard he works every day and he's starting to get some confidence. He's a load down there. It was good. I'm proud of the way Ale is playing. He's got to continue to do that. He has to work on his defense and his hands and things like that, but he's a freshman, so that's positive."

Follow Paul Coro on Twitter: @paulcoro.