Defense dips in loss at UTRGV

Thursday, February 8

Edinburg, Texas

6 P.M.

Grand Canyon

17-8, 6-3WAC

UTRGV

13-12, 4-4WAC

Grand Canyon

UT Rio Grande Valley

Photo by: Travis Neely

2/8/2018 11:23:00 PM | Men's Basketball, Paul Coro

Box Score

Lopes lose 83-81 despite Benson's banner game

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

EDINBURG, Texas – A two-point loss never is about missing the final shot.

There were a myriad of plays that cost Grand Canyon a win Thursday night at UT-Rio Grande Valley.

The Lopes lost 83-81 at UTRGV Fieldhouse because they gave up a string of first-half layups to dig a 10-point hole, got outworked on the boards, left shooters at the 3-point line and more.

It was a blow to waste GCU senior point guard Casey Benson's 17-point, 10-rebound, six-assist, no-turnover effort. It was a shame that GCU freshman center Alessandro Lever's 22 points still were not enough. It was worse that the Lopes (17-8, 6-3) slid into third place in the Western Athletic Conference before facing first-place New Mexico State in Las Cruces, N.M., on Saturday.

"We got what we deserved," GCU head coach Dan Majerle said. "We didn't come to play at the beginning. I just told the guys, 'It's the little things.' I don't know how many times I tell them. I don't know if we just don't have the guys to do it or what. But it's the little things. It's getting in a stance. It's getting back on defense. It's boxing out. It's playing the ball coverages right. We continue to make the same mistakes."

The game went to the wire with no team leading by more than four points for the final 25 minutes. It nearly went south on GCU for good early when UTRGV (13-12, 4-4) led 25-15 after 10 minutes.The Lopes responded by rattling off 15 unanswered points with a Benson-led lineup that included Fiifi Aidoo, Gerard Martin, Matt Jackson and Alessandro Lever.

GCU had its worst shooting game, 36.1 percent, since it lost to New Mexico State on Jan. 11 but that was in spite of Benson's hot hand. He made his fourth and fifth 3-pointers consecutively for a 51-47 lead with 16:08 to go. Benson set a career high by making five 3s on five tries and the 6-foot-3 guard matched his career high for boards, grabbing half of the team's individual rebounds in the first half.

"I was trying to do whatever I could to help us win," Benson said. "Unfortunately, we came up short so that's why it doesn't feel very good."

GCU only trailed for 1:26 of the final 9:50 but 48 seconds of that came at the end.

The Lopes led 76-73 with 2:21 to go as Lever was on a run of making his first 12 free throws. UTRGV missed but scored on a second chance at a point when a Lopes rebound could have set up a chance to create a cushion or at least drained clock. Instead, they needed a Lever 3-point play to retake the lead at 79-77 with 1:09 to play.

Vaqueros sophomore Xavier McDaniel Jr., a 26.6 percent 3-point shooter on the season, made a go-ahead 3-pointer with 47.8 seconds remaining. He went three for three on 3-pointers Thursday against GCU's previously No. 1 ranked 3-point defense. UTRGV made seven of 16 from 3-point range.

After Lever missed two free throws, GCU had to foul and WAC leading scorer Nick Dixon (22 points) converted two free throws for an 82-79 lead with 21.8 seconds to go. Lever bounced back to make two free throws that cut the lead to 82-81 and UTRGV left GCU a chance when a missed free throw put the Vaqueros lead at 83-81 with 6.5 seconds to go.

Aidoo raced upcourt and fed Lever, whose 4-foot jump hook missed off the back rim at the buzzer to cap his four-for-12 shooting game.

UTRGV shot 48.1 percent and made only five turnovers in the second half.

"Up two, up three when you need a stop in crunch time, we gave up baskets," Benson said. "The little things, that's where it was. We just needed one stop and you get the ball back and you're in command.

"We were focused on this game and that's why it's so much more frustrating. You can't give these games away."

Lpoes sophomore small forward Oscar Frayer made two 3-pointers to contribute to his 11-point, four-steal game but GCU players other than Frayer and Benson missed all 13 tries from 3-point range. Leading scorer Joshua Braun scored four points and did not make a field goal on five shots.

UTRGV shot 33.3 percent in the first meeting at GCU, where the Lopes dominated the boards to win 84-71 on Jan. 13.

"It's just disappointing that they just played harder, played tougher," Majerle said. "It always seems that when we come in this gym, we don't play very well. Good teams don't do that."

Follow Paul Coro on Twitter: @paulcoro.