Upcoming Event: Men's Basketball at Baylor on October 10, 2025 at 2 p.m. (MST)
M Basketball
2 p.m. (MST)
at Baylor
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Grand Canyon University Athletics
Thursday, March 14
Las Vegas, Nev.
8:30 P.M.
Grand Canyon
19-12
84
vs
75
Seattle U
18-14
1
2
F
Seattle U
38
37
75
Grand Canyon
35
49
84
Lopes get gutty, reach WAC semis
3/15/2019 12:15:00 AM | Men's Basketball, Paul Coro
Carlos Johnson's career-high 31 points ousts Seattle
LAS VEGAS – With the season on the line, Grand Canyon head coach Dan Majerle said the second half was a gut check Thursday night.
And the Lopes gave every reason to trust their guts and keep chasing glory.
Riding junior Carlos Johnson's career-high 31-point game, GCU advanced to Friday's WAC Tournament semifinals with an 84-75 first-round win against Seattle at Orleans Arena. The Lopes dropped a 49-point second half on the Redhawks' conference-leading defense, giving the 2,000 GCU fans in attendance reason to return for more Friday night.
GCU gets another chance to avenge last week's road losses when GCU (19-12) faces Utah Valley (24-8) in an 8:30 p.m. semifinal, a repeat of the semifinal the Lopes won last season.
"The one thing I don't have to is worry about is our guys not being ready," GCU head coach Dan Majerle said of Friday's game. "They'll be ready. These guys have tremendous energy, tremendous will. They fight. They'll run through a wall for me."
Johnson played with the aggression to break walls but the control to go 29 minutes without a turnover Thursday night.
He scored nine of GCU's first 23 points, and the Lopes led 25-19 when he left the game with 8:42 remaining until halftime after being called for his second foul. Those free throws started a 17-4 Seattle run that included Redhawks guard Terrell Brown scoring eight consecutive points.
When Johnson returned for the second half, the Lopes erased Seattle's last lead in the first 40 seconds of the half on a Johnson 3-pointer. He made 4 of 8 shots from 3-point range Thursday, continuing his dramatic 3-point shooting turnaround from 6 for 36 (17 percent) in the first 16 games to 18 for 45 (40 percent) in the past 15 games.
Johnson's scoring, coupled with senior power forward Michael Finke's 21-point game, fended off Seattle threats by getting into the bonus situation with 10:58 to go, where Johnson and Finke free throws sparked a 9-0 run that was capped by Johnson feeding Finke for a 3 and a 68-57 lead with 9:05 remaining.
Seattle (18-14) never made another significant threat as it surrendered its fourth-highest point total of the season. The Redhawks allowed 40.4 percent shooting on the season but allowed the Lopes to shoot 47.5 percent Thursday.
"It means a lot, going through the battles we went through to get to where we're at now," Johnson said. "We had a little down slump but this is what we want right here. It takes three games and we're going to take them one game at a time and chip away to get to the 'ship."
Johnson also grabbed five of GCU's 12 offensive rebounds, which led to a 16-5 advantage in second-chance points. The Lopes did not allow a fastbreak point and kept Seattle to 36.1 percent shooting in the second half.
"I thought our guys really dug down deep and did a great job of defending and really concentrating," Majerle said. "And then offensively, they did an unbelievable job."
GCU made 11 of 24 shots from 3-point range, including two in the game's first 67 seconds to prompt a Seattle time out when Lopes fans were raucous for an 8-0 start. Majerle tightened his rotation to six players in the second half but it was reserve senior guard Trey Drechsel running the offense for most of the 49-37 second half.
Junior Oscar Frayer drew much of the defensive responsibility against Brown and Means, who took 56 percent of Seattle's shots.
Finke was perfect from the field (3 for 3) and the free throw line (4 for 4) while he and sophomore center Alessandro Lever (12 points) played all of the second half.
"We've just got to trust in what Coach Majerle is preaching to us," Finke said. "Play together, play for each other. If we take care of that, we'll be fine. We just have to keep playing how we're playing, especially after today, and carry this momentum going forward."
GCU split the season series with Utah Valley, beating the Wolverines 71-60 at home and dropping an 82-70 game last week in Orem, Utah. Second-seeded Utah Valley defeated seventh-seeded Kansas City 71-64 in Thursday's first round after trailing the Roos by nine points in the second half and going a 15-minute stretch with one made field goal.
GCU will look to flip the script on Utah Valley eight days later, as it did to Seattle four days after a road loss to the Redhawks.
"We didn't lose this game," Seattle coach Jim Hayford said. "Grand Canyon won this game and they deserved to win this game. . . They played at a really high level.
"You talk about just how good the WAC is. That is two really good teams that were taking full-on roundhouses at each other so credit the winner."
Follow Paul Coro on Twitter: @paulcoro.
And the Lopes gave every reason to trust their guts and keep chasing glory.
Riding junior Carlos Johnson's career-high 31-point game, GCU advanced to Friday's WAC Tournament semifinals with an 84-75 first-round win against Seattle at Orleans Arena. The Lopes dropped a 49-point second half on the Redhawks' conference-leading defense, giving the 2,000 GCU fans in attendance reason to return for more Friday night.
GCU gets another chance to avenge last week's road losses when GCU (19-12) faces Utah Valley (24-8) in an 8:30 p.m. semifinal, a repeat of the semifinal the Lopes won last season.
"The one thing I don't have to is worry about is our guys not being ready," GCU head coach Dan Majerle said of Friday's game. "They'll be ready. These guys have tremendous energy, tremendous will. They fight. They'll run through a wall for me."
Johnson played with the aggression to break walls but the control to go 29 minutes without a turnover Thursday night.
He scored nine of GCU's first 23 points, and the Lopes led 25-19 when he left the game with 8:42 remaining until halftime after being called for his second foul. Those free throws started a 17-4 Seattle run that included Redhawks guard Terrell Brown scoring eight consecutive points.
When Johnson returned for the second half, the Lopes erased Seattle's last lead in the first 40 seconds of the half on a Johnson 3-pointer. He made 4 of 8 shots from 3-point range Thursday, continuing his dramatic 3-point shooting turnaround from 6 for 36 (17 percent) in the first 16 games to 18 for 45 (40 percent) in the past 15 games.
Johnson's scoring, coupled with senior power forward Michael Finke's 21-point game, fended off Seattle threats by getting into the bonus situation with 10:58 to go, where Johnson and Finke free throws sparked a 9-0 run that was capped by Johnson feeding Finke for a 3 and a 68-57 lead with 9:05 remaining.
Seattle (18-14) never made another significant threat as it surrendered its fourth-highest point total of the season. The Redhawks allowed 40.4 percent shooting on the season but allowed the Lopes to shoot 47.5 percent Thursday.
"It means a lot, going through the battles we went through to get to where we're at now," Johnson said. "We had a little down slump but this is what we want right here. It takes three games and we're going to take them one game at a time and chip away to get to the 'ship."
Johnson also grabbed five of GCU's 12 offensive rebounds, which led to a 16-5 advantage in second-chance points. The Lopes did not allow a fastbreak point and kept Seattle to 36.1 percent shooting in the second half.
"I thought our guys really dug down deep and did a great job of defending and really concentrating," Majerle said. "And then offensively, they did an unbelievable job."
GCU made 11 of 24 shots from 3-point range, including two in the game's first 67 seconds to prompt a Seattle time out when Lopes fans were raucous for an 8-0 start. Majerle tightened his rotation to six players in the second half but it was reserve senior guard Trey Drechsel running the offense for most of the 49-37 second half.
Junior Oscar Frayer drew much of the defensive responsibility against Brown and Means, who took 56 percent of Seattle's shots.
Finke was perfect from the field (3 for 3) and the free throw line (4 for 4) while he and sophomore center Alessandro Lever (12 points) played all of the second half.
"We've just got to trust in what Coach Majerle is preaching to us," Finke said. "Play together, play for each other. If we take care of that, we'll be fine. We just have to keep playing how we're playing, especially after today, and carry this momentum going forward."
GCU split the season series with Utah Valley, beating the Wolverines 71-60 at home and dropping an 82-70 game last week in Orem, Utah. Second-seeded Utah Valley defeated seventh-seeded Kansas City 71-64 in Thursday's first round after trailing the Roos by nine points in the second half and going a 15-minute stretch with one made field goal.
GCU will look to flip the script on Utah Valley eight days later, as it did to Seattle four days after a road loss to the Redhawks.
"We didn't lose this game," Seattle coach Jim Hayford said. "Grand Canyon won this game and they deserved to win this game. . . They played at a really high level.
"You talk about just how good the WAC is. That is two really good teams that were taking full-on roundhouses at each other so credit the winner."
Follow Paul Coro on Twitter: @paulcoro.
Team Stats
SU
GCU
FG%
.435
.475
3FG%
.348
.458
FT%
.929
.895
RB
32
37
TO
8
8
STL
4
4
Game Leaders
Pts
31
FGM
10
3FGM
4
FTM
7
Pts
21
FGM
7
3FGM
3
FTM
4
Pts
12
FGM
5
3FGM
2
FTM
0
Pts
9
FGM
3
3FGM
2
FTM
1
Players Mentioned
G
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