Lopes rally to OT, drop 3 in a row

Thursday, February 14

Kansas City, Mo.

5 p.m.

Grand Canyon

14-10, 7-4

Kansas City

9-16, 4-6

OT 1

Grand Canyon

UMKC

2/14/2019 9:04:00 PM | Men's Basketball, Paul Coro

Box Score

M. Finke's career-high 36-point game goes to waste

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

KANSAS CITY, Mo. — The hottest team in the WAC cooled off with two home losses last week and all that midseason progress remained frozen as Grand Canyon entered the Midwest's winter storm Thursday night.

The Lopes emerged with an early chill to dig a 16-point hole but warmed up for a furious comeback, sparked by senior Michael Finke's career-high 36 points, before losing 87-75 in overtime at Kansas City.

GCU (14-10, 7-4 WAC) trailed 58-46 with 12 minutes remaining before sophomore center Alessandro Lever, who scored 18 of his 20 points in the second half, scored seven consecutive points to rally the Lopes. GCU tied the game twice late in regulation on baskets by Finke, who obliterated his 2015 career high of 24 points by making 16 of 22 shots against UMKC (9-16, 4-6 WAC).

The Lopes took leads on a floater by sophomore point guard Damari Milstead with 1:11 remaining in regulation and again on a Lever up-and-under post move with 30 seconds remaining but the Roos answered with scores on each of their final three possessions. UMKC, which opened the game 2 for 12, missed 13 of 15 shots as the Lopes were rallying but picked up four crunch-time points from point guard Xavier Bishop on a drive and free throws and then a third consecutive game-tying score on sophomore guard Brandon McKissic's isolation drive with 20 seconds remaining.

Tied at 71-71, GCU junior guard Carlos Johnson drew a foul driving in the lane with four seconds remaining but missed the front-end free throw of a bonus situation. The Lopes rebounded on a night when they won the much-emphasized board battle 46-30 but senior guard Trey Drechsel missed a turnaround jumper at the regulation buzzer.

After a pair of three-point home losses, the Lopes headed to their first overtime game of the season but wound up with a lopsided final score because they were shut out for the first 4 ½ minutes. The Roos scored the first 12 points to reverse the 1-6 stretch they had suffered before Thursday's game.

"I saw a bunch of guys who didn't come to play," GCU head coach Dan Majerle said. "Did not play at all. And then they come out in the second and decide they want to start playing. It's too late. Had a chance to win it at the end. Didn't win it. Just got blown out in the overtime. We deserve it."

The Lopes are 0-3 since losing senior forward Gerard Martin to a season-ending knee injury. His defense was not missed during UMKC's 2-for-12 shooting start but junior reserve guard Rob Whitfield repeated a theme of hot shooters that hurt GCU in Saturday's loss to New Mexico State. Like Terrell Brown did for the Aggies in that second half, Whitfield made 3-pointers on three consecutive trips to give the Roos a lead midway through the first half.

Whitfield made four 3-pointers during a 14-2 Roos run that followed UMKC being held to five points in the game's first nine minutes. He also made a 3 to start the 12-0 overtime run, during which Johnson fouled out on an offensive foul.

"They should be embarrassed because I am," Majerle said. "I am extremely embarrassed.

"We saw it against UTRGV (a week earlier in a 72-69 home loss). You let a team in it and then you fight back and it comes down to a two-minute game. Anybody can win a two-minute game. They deserved to win. Good for them. Really good. I told them (UMKC players) all, 'Thanks for kicking our butts.' We deserved it."

Finke deserved a better fate. The 6-foot-10 power forward had not played more than 30 minutes in a game until Saturday and then played more than 40 on Thursday, when he also grabbed nine rebounds and matched his career high for assists with five.

UMKC only shot 44 percent but made twice as many 3-pointers (12 to six) and three times as many free throws (23 to seven) while committing only four turnovers in 45 minutes of play.

"Somehow, someway we pulled it out," UMKC head coach Kareem Richardson said. "I am so proud of these guys for sticking with it. In overtime, we played to win and it was very different from the second half.

"Our guys came back and answered ... For our guys to lock down defensively and get six consecutive stops to start overtime, that was really good."

Johnson returned to the starting lineup Thursday for the first time since Nov. 22 and posted eight points, eight rebounds and three assists. Junior Oscar Frayer moved to the bench and led the team with 10 rebounds while scoring seven. The Lopes shot 43 percent from the field, making 57 percent of their two-point shots and 23 percent of their 3-point shots.

UMKC was led by 19 points from Whitefield, one of four Roos with double-digit points.

"This is the league," Majerle said. "It's not too late. We're 7-4 now in the league. It's ridiculous. I can't tell you. They're kids. I'm with them every day. They work hard. They're good kids. They're the best kids in the world. Every one of them is the nicest kid in the world. They work hard in practice. I can't tell you why they didn't show up here. I had a feeling they were going to play well and they were going to play hard but they didn't. We'll see what happens."

Follow Paul Coro on Twitter: @paulcoro.