Completed Event: Men's Basketball at UNLV on February 7, 2026 , Loss , 78, to, 80
M Basketball
at UNLV
L 78-80
Grand Canyon University Athletics
Rapid Recap: UTRGV 72, GCU 69
2/7/2019 7:59:00 PM | Men's Basketball, Paul Coro
Lopes' 16-game regular-season home streak ends
Grand Canyon is headed toward a WAC game against New Mexico State on Saturday night with a more crucial need to win after dropping a home game Thursday night for the first time this season.
The Lopes' 16-game regular-season winning streak came to an end with a 72-69 loss to Texas-Rio Grande Valley at GCU Arena.
GCU (14-8, 7-2 WAC) ended its five-game winning streak, which started with a dicey Jan. 12 win at UTRGV (13-12, 5-4 WAC).
Like that game, the Lopes needed to close strongly to pull out a win but did not have a lead for the final 4:45 of the game.
GCU trailed 66-62 with 1:59 to play before the Lopes' answer began with sophomore center Alessandro Lever scoring on an up-and-under post move with 1:40 to play. UTRGV stretched its lead to 67-64 with 59.7 seconds to go on a free throw but the Lopes tied the score on a driving 3-point play by junior guard Carlos Johnson with 45 seconds remaining.
UTRGV recalimed a lead on a drive by Terry Winn, who scored 15 to go with Tyson Smith's game-high 21 points. The Vaqueros made it a 71-67 lead with 16.7 seconds to go before GCU sophomore point guard Damari Milstead's runner made it 71-69. After taking a foul, UTRGV's Jordan Jackson converted one free throw to leave the lead at three points for one last chance but a long Milstead 3-pointer fell short.
Milstead led the Lopes with 14 points as the team shot 45.3 percent but made 15 turnovers. UTRGV shot 45 percent from the field and outscored GCU in the paint 42-34.
The Lopes' ability to draw fouls and convert free throws carried them through a cold-shooting first half. GCU was defensively solid except for a stretch in which UTRGV scored 12 unanswered points with eight coming on driving layups by sophomore point guard Javon Levi.
That run gave the Vaqueros their largest lead at 20-15 but the Lopes responded with a 7-0 spurt to tighten the score for the rest of the half. Despite a 1-for-4 start, GCU made 15 of 19 free throws in the first half for nearly half its first-half scoring. The Lopes took a 32-30 lead into halftime despite shooting 33 percent from the field and 1-for-8 shooting on 3-pointers.
Playing for the first time since senior forward Gerard Martin suffered a season-ending knee injury, the Lopes picked up important minutes from sophomore power forward Roberts Blumbergs re-entering the rotation. He tallied two points, two rebounds, two blocked shots and two steals in seven first-half minutes.
Return to gculopes.com for Paul Coro's full game recap with comments from Dan Majerle and players.
The Lopes' 16-game regular-season winning streak came to an end with a 72-69 loss to Texas-Rio Grande Valley at GCU Arena.
GCU (14-8, 7-2 WAC) ended its five-game winning streak, which started with a dicey Jan. 12 win at UTRGV (13-12, 5-4 WAC).
Like that game, the Lopes needed to close strongly to pull out a win but did not have a lead for the final 4:45 of the game.
GCU trailed 66-62 with 1:59 to play before the Lopes' answer began with sophomore center Alessandro Lever scoring on an up-and-under post move with 1:40 to play. UTRGV stretched its lead to 67-64 with 59.7 seconds to go on a free throw but the Lopes tied the score on a driving 3-point play by junior guard Carlos Johnson with 45 seconds remaining.
UTRGV recalimed a lead on a drive by Terry Winn, who scored 15 to go with Tyson Smith's game-high 21 points. The Vaqueros made it a 71-67 lead with 16.7 seconds to go before GCU sophomore point guard Damari Milstead's runner made it 71-69. After taking a foul, UTRGV's Jordan Jackson converted one free throw to leave the lead at three points for one last chance but a long Milstead 3-pointer fell short.
Milstead led the Lopes with 14 points as the team shot 45.3 percent but made 15 turnovers. UTRGV shot 45 percent from the field and outscored GCU in the paint 42-34.
The Lopes' ability to draw fouls and convert free throws carried them through a cold-shooting first half. GCU was defensively solid except for a stretch in which UTRGV scored 12 unanswered points with eight coming on driving layups by sophomore point guard Javon Levi.
That run gave the Vaqueros their largest lead at 20-15 but the Lopes responded with a 7-0 spurt to tighten the score for the rest of the half. Despite a 1-for-4 start, GCU made 15 of 19 free throws in the first half for nearly half its first-half scoring. The Lopes took a 32-30 lead into halftime despite shooting 33 percent from the field and 1-for-8 shooting on 3-pointers.
Playing for the first time since senior forward Gerard Martin suffered a season-ending knee injury, the Lopes picked up important minutes from sophomore power forward Roberts Blumbergs re-entering the rotation. He tallied two points, two rebounds, two blocked shots and two steals in seven first-half minutes.
Return to gculopes.com for Paul Coro's full game recap with comments from Dan Majerle and players.
Players Mentioned
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