NMSU swipes win from gutsy GCU

Saturday, February 10

Las Cruces, N.M.

7 p.m.

Grand Canyon

17-9, 6-4WAC

New Mexico State

22-3, 9-0WAC

Grand Canyon

New Mexico State

2/10/2018 10:55:00 PM | Men's Basketball, Paul Coro

Box Score

Lopes defend well, lose Lever to fouls

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

LAS CRUCES, N.M. – Grand Canyon's screams of intensity could be heard above the noise level of a sold-out New Mexico State crowd.

The Lopes' level of play and intensity was outperforming NMSU, a crimson-hot team on the verge of the national top 25.

GCU could only withstand so much. When its leading conference scorer fouled out with 16:05 remaining, the obstacles became too much in a 74-70 loss to NMSU in front of 12,989 fans at Pan American Center.

Lopes freshman center Alessandro Lever just had scored nine consecutive points on four possessions for a 54-41 lead when he fouled out while positioning for a rebound. He picked up his third and fourth fouls in the half's first 3 ½ minutes.

That was not enough to topple GCU solely but it staggered the Lopes greatly. GCU gave itself a chance to beat the Aggies (22-3, 9-0) to the end, when missing nine of its final 10 shots allowed the Aggies to rally to their 11^th consecutive win.

GCU sophomore small forward Oscar Frayer scored a career-high 23 points, added a team-high 10 rebounds and locked up NMSU top scorer Zach Lofton to his second-worst shooting game of the season. The defense held NMSU to 36.2 percent shooting.

The Lopes (17-9, 6-4) dropped to fourth place in the Western Athletic Conference and lost consecutive games for the first time this season but played one of its gustiest games of the season.

"I thought our guys were great," GCU head coach Dan Majerle said. "They played a really good game. They played tough. They played hard. It was one of the worst officiated games I've ever seen in my career and I've been playing basketball a long time. They didn't give us a chance. Alé starts going off in the second half and he picks up three quick fouls and I didn't see one of them. I don't know how he's supposed to play in there."

Frayer thrilled three busloads of Havocs when he made his first three 3-pointers to pull the Lopes out of an early hole. GCU led for 26 ½ consecutive minutes of the game despite having trouble again on the boards with NMSU. Aggies forward Jemerrio Jones picked up the scoring load for Lofton with a season-high 27 points and recorded his third consecutive 20-rebound game.

Even after losing the lead, GCU retied the game three times and trailed 71-70 with 1:39 to play before missing its final four shots, including two 3-pointers to tie.

"We came out and competed," said Frayer, who made a career-high four 3-pointers. "Everybody was against us. It felt like eight on five. We'll be all right. We'll see them again for sure.
"We're proud but we felt like we should have won that game."

GCU played NMSU to a halftime tie in Phoenix on Jan. 11 and trailed that game by only by three points with 6:25 go before fading with seven consecutive missed shots. This Lopes loss felt far different, despite a similar offensive fade.

"That's how you have to play basketball," Majerle said. "Our guys got a taste of it. I told them last night at practice, 'Playing defense is fun. Rebounding is fun. Competing is fun. Losing is not fun.' Well, I think they had a lot of fun tonight. They're out there competing."

The Lopes defense responded after losing Lever by shutting out NMSU for four minutes. Senior power forward Keonta Vernon's post-up gave GCU a 73-63 lead with 7:52 to go but Vernon also fouled out with 2:26 remaining.

"People talk about our defense a lot but they (the Lopes) are right there too," Aggies head coach Chris Jans said. "They're a very good defensive team. I've got a lot of respect for Coach Majerle, his staff and players. They play a physical style of basketball. I just really like the way their team defends. It's hard to score on them."

After taking that 10-point lead, the Lopes missed nine of 10 shots, made five of eight free throws and made three turnovers.

Jones started the NMSU rally by scoring the first three times on six consecutive Aggies scoring possessions that made for a 13-1 run. In the final 4 ½ minutes, the Aggies' only field goal was a tip-in but they survived on eight free throw points.

"It's really disappointing," Majerle said. "I'm proud of my guys. Oh man, I put them through a test last night. To be honest, I didn't know which way they were going to go. I was going to be good cop, bad cop, I decided. I blacked out and I was bad cop again. At the end of practice, 'You're with me or against me.' They said, 'We're with you,' and they showed it. I'm really proud of them."

Lofton was the WAC's No. 2 scorer but missed all five of his 3-pointers against the nation's No. 1 3-point defense, which held the Aggies to two-for-13 shooting on 3s. Lever was most efficient with 13 points in 15 minutes but Frayer's 23 points and 10 rebounds were as essential to the team as his defense.

"That's how he has to play," Majerle said. "He's got to be athletic, flying in there getting rebounds. When he plays with that kind of energy, his shot seems to fall. Hopefully, all our guys learned a less that this is how hard you have to play, whether it's New Mexico State or whoever or whether it's in front of a packed crowd or eight people. That kind of energy and that kind of purpose, that's how you play no matter what building you're in."

Follow Paul Coro on Twitter: @paulcoro.