Full effort puts Lopes halfway there

Saturday, February 2

Bakersfield, Calif.

8 p.m.

Grand Canyon

14-7, 6-2WAC

CSU Bakersfield

15-7, 7-1WAC

Grand Canyon

CSU Bakersfield

2/3/2019 12:44:00 AM | Men's Basketball, Paul Coro

Box Score

GCU stays in 1st-place tie with 72-59 win at Bakersfield

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

BAKERSFIELD, Calif. — After seeing each WAC opponent once this season and seeing his team at full strength Saturday for the first time in conference play, Grand Canyon head coach Dan Majerle sees a potential champion forming.

The Lopes won their fifth consecutive game, with three coming on the road and the past four by double digits. The Saturday night victory carried more weight, as GCU pulled away at a sold-out road venue for the second consecutive week in a 72-59 win at CSU Bakersfield.

The Lopes (14-7, 7-1 WAC) broke a first-place tie with the Roadrunners (15-7, 6-2 WAC) but entered a first-place tie with New Mexico State (18-4, 7-1 WAC), which visits Bakersfield on Thursday and GCU on Saturday.

The WAC has a different Lopes team to overcome with GCU's first 7-1 WAC start. GCU handled Bakersfield's high-pressure defense and returned even more intensity to keep it to 37.5 percent shooting, including a 1-for-13 stretch in the second half that blew the game open. The Lopes led by double digits for the final 11:46 at Icardo Center, where Bakersfield was 9-0 this season.

"I always said at the beginning of the year, 'You want to have your guys playing the best basketball come WAC season,' and I think we're doing that," GCU head coach Dan Majerle said. "We're starting to get a little bit of confidence and our guys are starting to believe we have a chance to win it. If I was being honest with everybody, I think this is the first year that I thought we were the best team in the league. Now, we still have to go out and prove it. There's a long way to go. But our guys believe it. I believe it. And they're not settling."

Junior guard Carlos Johnson exemplifies that. He has posted the first three 20-point scoring games of his three-year career in the past three games, capped by making 5 of 9 shots Saturday while getting half of his points on 10-of-11 free throw shooting. GCU outscored Bakersfield 53-33 in Johnson's 23 minutes of play.

He has eight consecutive double-digit scoring games off the bench. The Lopes wore down another opponent with their depth, winning bench scoring 31-6 to give them as many road wins in this WAC half-season as all of last WAC season.

"I think it's Coach getting everybody to buy in and know their roles," Johnson said. "Everybody has a common goal and that's to win and to win the WAC championship at that. We're taking it one game at a time to make that happen."

GCU threw waves of defenders at Bakersfield leading scorer Jarkel Joiner and blitzed him off screens with big men who were active enough to double and recover to the paint. The tactic kept WAC leading scorer Milan Acquaah to 4-of-14 shooting and six turnovers last week at California Baptist but Joiner was sensational in a 17-point first half with 46 seconds of rest.

GCU's depth, with junior swingman Oscar Frayer returning for 15 minutes off the bench, could sustain the swarming effort but Joiner could not. He cooled until a too-late run of points.

"Give them some credit because they are one of the best defensive teams in the conference," Bakersfield head coach Rod Barnes said. "We got looks and they played really good defense."

GCU is holding conference opponents to 60.9 points per game. The defense has kept the opponent to 40.4 percent shooting or worse in 10 of its 21 games. On Saturday, senior forward Gerard Martin kept his conference 3-point percentage lead by making another but he starred defensively, where he made five steals, blocked a shot at the rim and took a charge. Matt Jackson, his fellow senior Aussie, was just as important defensively but also made both of his 3-pointers on GCU's 7-for-16 game from the arc.

Bakersfield made three 3-pointers early when it led 8-0 and 11-7 but was 3 for 18 on 3s after that.

"We knew Bakersfield was going to be very excited to play this game and our guys were up for it too," Majerle said. "It was a really good first half and then, in the second half, we came out and really shut them down defensively. I thought we did a tremendous job in that area and then were able to score some points. I couldn't be happier with their effort."

Sophomore Damari Milstead, who was ill before the game, ended the half with a key stretch when he banked a pull-up jumper and set up Johnson for a fastbreak alleyoop that gave the Lopes a 32-30 halftime lead. Milstead finished with 18 points and made only one turnover (in 36 minutes) for the second consecutive game. GCU only had three second-half turnovers as a team.

"In the second half, we get to clicking and we've got a feel for each other and we go out there and make it happen," Johnson said.

GCU led 40-38 with 15:31 to go when Jackson led a 16-3 run by making a 3-point shot, finishing a 3-point play and assisting on another 3. The Lopes won for the first time this season while getting outrebounded but kept the Roadrunners, who ranked fourth in offensive rebounding percentage in the nation, to eight second-chance points.

GCU continued its 3-point shooting improvement by making 7 of 16 from the arc and enjoyed its best free throw shooting performance by total made (27) or percentage made (87.1).

"We've got give Grand Canyon a lot of credit," Barnes said. "They've got a good basketball team. They executed better than we did."

The Lopes have their first game at GCU Arena since Jan. 19 when Texas-Rio Grande Valley visits on Thursday. If the Lopes win that and New Mexico State wins Thursday at Bakersfield, another first-place showdown could be coming Saturday for the Aggies' visit to an area where GCU has won 16 consecutive regular-season games.

Last year, the Lopes were the conference favorites and New Mexico State won the regular-season and tournament titles. This season, the Aggies were the preseason favorite but Majerle and his team believe they should be this season's champions.

"We've gotten better," Majerle said. "It's a testament to our players and the way they work. These guys bought in. It could've gone south earlier in the year when they had that nonconference schedule. When we lost to San Diego, it was a little rocky. The guys just turned the corner and bought in and have really done it on the defensive end."

Follow Paul Coro on Twitter: @paulcoro.