Clutch Lopes reach WAC title game

Friday, March 15

Las Vegas, Nev.

8:30 p.m.

Grand Canyon

20-12

Utah Valley

24-9

Grand Canyon

Utah Valley

3/16/2019 12:12:00 AM | Men's Basketball, Paul Coro

Box Score Photo Gallery Postgame with Trey Drechsel Postgame with Coach Majerle

Johnson records career high for 2nd consecutive game

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

LAS VEGAS – Grand Canyon strives to abide by a routine, whether it is in its schedule, warmups or the offensive and defensive sets it runs.

The WAC Tournament routine of trailing competitively at halftime, getting a career-best scoring performance from junior Carlos Johnson and playing clutch late in games has made for a new routine – WAC Tournament championship game visits and Dan Majerle semifinal celebrations in the student section.

GCU returns to the conference title game Saturday night after Johnson's 35-point game and defense on the WAC Player of the Year gave the Lopes a 78-74 semifinal victory Friday night at Orleans Arena.

The Lopes (20-12) take their fourth consecutive 20-win season into a 7 p.m. championship game against defending champion New Mexico State (29-4), which beat GCU at this stage last season and brings in the nation's second-longest active winning streak (18 games).

"We're very fortunate to win these last two games against two very good teams but this is what we've talked about all year … finding a way to get to the championship of the WAC Tournament and giving ourselves a chance to get to The Big Dance," said Majerle, the sixth-year GCU head coach. "I'm proud of our guys. We've had some ups and downs all year long but we've never stopped fighting so I'm very happy that we have one more chance."

Johnson willed GCU to a first-round win with 31 points and followed that 22-point second half with a 21-point first half against Utah Valley (24-9). Even on a ginger ankle, Johnson kept up his multifaceted arsenal of 3-pointers, drives, fadeaways and free throws to finish with the highest WAC Tournament scoring game since Utah's Keith Van Horn in 1997 (37 points).

Johnson helped GCU lead 19-12 in the first seven minutes by scoring 15 of those points and scored eight of the Lopes' first 10 second-half points when they shook off a 44-40 halftime deficit.

Johnson always has been GCU's most capable of creating his own shot but his daily dedication to his shooting turned around his season. He was a 16.7 percent 3-point shooter for the first 16 games. He has been a 45.1 percent 3-point shooter for the past 16 games, including going 10 for 16 on 3s at the WAC Tournament.

"I had some great looks," Johnson said. "They put me in a position to execute and Coach ran some great plays for me. Once you're feeling it, the rim just gets bigger."

Majerle interrupted, "Keep feeling it."

But winning this rubber match with the Wolverines and ending their eight-game winning streak required efforts beyond Johnson, like how junior swingman Oscar Frayer defended WAC Player of the Year Jake Toolson. The Utah Valley guard went scoreless in the second half and scored seven points, making GCU responsible for two of his six lowest-scoring games of the season.

"Oscar has the capability of really locking in and he did a good job yesterday of really getting in and focusing on Brown and started picking him up full-court," Majerle said. "I saw the same thing tonight. Oscar really started focusing in and other people on our team really helped."

The Lopes did not trail for the final 12 minutes of the game but the Wolverines usually stayed within one possession until they nearly went the final 3 ½ minutes without scoring, save for a meaningless last-second basket.

One of GCU's 11 second-half offensive rebounds helped set up Frayer for a scoring take to the basket, which gave the Lopes a 75-72 lead with 3:05 to go. Neither team scored until Utah Valley was running out of time and had to foul GCU senior guard Trey Drechsel after his rebound with 22.5 seconds to go.

Drechsel converted one free throw for a 76-72 lead and sophomore point guard Damari Milstead came up with a steal and free throws to finish off the win.

Johnson is one of eight players in the nation to post two 30-point games this month and the only one to do it on consecutive nights.

"He's explosive and physical and he gets to the rim and he's been playing great," Utah Valley head coach Mark Pope said. "We just didn't quite have an answer for him."

Utah Valley was limited to 30 second-half points and one second-half free throw. The Wolverines ranked 12th in the nation for 3-point shooting (39.1 percent) but only made 9 of 27 tries on Friday night.

The Lopes likely will see many more 3-pointers shot Saturday night with New Mexico State averaging 26 attempts per game. GCU has lost the teams' past five meetings but this season's pair of defeats came by a total of five points with a half-court buzzer beater included.

"We were ready to go," said Finke, who scored 10 on Friday. "We wanted to get out there and really take it to Utah Valley. They got us the last time we played them at their place. That was a big one for us, but like Coach said, we kind of got to forget it now. It's onto the next one.

"We've got some bad blood with them right now with them beating us in the championship last year and losing two close games to them this year. It's going to be a battle out there and we're going to be ready for it."

Follow Paul Coro on Twitter: @paulcoro.