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: NMSU 67, GCU 64
2/9/2019 9:06:00 PM | Men's Basketball, Paul Coro
Aggies visit standing-room-only crowd at GCU Arena
Grand Canyon wanted a second chance at beating New Mexico State but the Aggies enjoyed too many second chances Saturday night for the Lopes to flip the result.
GCU was in position Saturday to win and catch NMSU for first place in the WAC but the Aggies' 27 second-chance points proved to be too much in a 67-64 NMSU win in front of a standing-room-only crowd at GCU Arena.
For the second time this season against NMSU (20-4, 9-1 WAC), GCU (14-9, 7-3) nearly made a remarkable comeback to beat the Aggies. The Lopes were trailing 62-53 entering the final 3:30 but quickly put together a 9-1 run with four of the points coming from senior power forward Michael Finke, who scored a team-high 16 points.
When sophomore center Alessandro Lever made a 3-pointer with 1:24 remaining, NMSU's lead was down to one point at 63-32 and the Lopes made a defensive stop. But an ensuing GCU turnover forced the Lopes to foul. New Mexico State's Eli Chuha made the first for a 64-62 lead and missed the second but the Aggies picked up one of their 14 offensive rebounds and Chuha made the following two free throws for a 66-62 lead.
The Lopes had one last-ditch try when Chuha missed a free throw to leave the score at 67-64 but there was too little time for junior guard Carlos Johnson, who missed a half-court shot as time expired.
Chuha led the Aggies with 15 points and seven rebounds as NMSU shot 45 percent from the field. GCU also shot 45 percent from the field but took nine fewer shots because of the rebound disparity against NMSU, the nation's seventh-leading rebounding team.
The anticipation for a quality game between the WAC's top two teams played came to fruition early, when the teams combined for 22 points (GCU 12-10) in the first 4:05 of the game. The action kept up with neither team shooting a free throw until 2:39 remained in the first half.
Lever paced the offense early, taking more shots in the game's first six minutes than he did a 5-for-5 outing Thursday. Lever scored eight of GCU's first 12 points but NMSU responded with a 10-0 run with hot 3-point shooting and second-chance scores.
Aggies point guard A.J. Harris made his first three 3-point tires with the last one giving NMSU its largest lead at 27-18 with 8:50 to go until halftime. The Lopes responded with a combination of Tim and Michael Finke doing good work. Michael, the senior, tied a career high for assists in a game before the first half was over. He set up Lever early in the game and then fed junior swingman Oscar Frayer for a game-tying 3-pointer with 1:13 remaining in the first half.
NMSU appropriately scored on a follow shot at the halftime buzzer to take a 35-33 lead to the break.
Return to gculopes.com for Paul Coro's full game recap with comments from Dan Majerle and players.
GCU was in position Saturday to win and catch NMSU for first place in the WAC but the Aggies' 27 second-chance points proved to be too much in a 67-64 NMSU win in front of a standing-room-only crowd at GCU Arena.
For the second time this season against NMSU (20-4, 9-1 WAC), GCU (14-9, 7-3) nearly made a remarkable comeback to beat the Aggies. The Lopes were trailing 62-53 entering the final 3:30 but quickly put together a 9-1 run with four of the points coming from senior power forward Michael Finke, who scored a team-high 16 points.
When sophomore center Alessandro Lever made a 3-pointer with 1:24 remaining, NMSU's lead was down to one point at 63-32 and the Lopes made a defensive stop. But an ensuing GCU turnover forced the Lopes to foul. New Mexico State's Eli Chuha made the first for a 64-62 lead and missed the second but the Aggies picked up one of their 14 offensive rebounds and Chuha made the following two free throws for a 66-62 lead.
The Lopes had one last-ditch try when Chuha missed a free throw to leave the score at 67-64 but there was too little time for junior guard Carlos Johnson, who missed a half-court shot as time expired.
Chuha led the Aggies with 15 points and seven rebounds as NMSU shot 45 percent from the field. GCU also shot 45 percent from the field but took nine fewer shots because of the rebound disparity against NMSU, the nation's seventh-leading rebounding team.
The anticipation for a quality game between the WAC's top two teams played came to fruition early, when the teams combined for 22 points (GCU 12-10) in the first 4:05 of the game. The action kept up with neither team shooting a free throw until 2:39 remained in the first half.
Lever paced the offense early, taking more shots in the game's first six minutes than he did a 5-for-5 outing Thursday. Lever scored eight of GCU's first 12 points but NMSU responded with a 10-0 run with hot 3-point shooting and second-chance scores.
Aggies point guard A.J. Harris made his first three 3-point tires with the last one giving NMSU its largest lead at 27-18 with 8:50 to go until halftime. The Lopes responded with a combination of Tim and Michael Finke doing good work. Michael, the senior, tied a career high for assists in a game before the first half was over. He set up Lever early in the game and then fed junior swingman Oscar Frayer for a game-tying 3-pointer with 1:13 remaining in the first half.
NMSU appropriately scored on a follow shot at the halftime buzzer to take a 35-33 lead to the break.
Return to gculopes.com for Paul Coro's full game recap with comments from Dan Majerle and players.
Players Mentioned
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