Lopes season ends at West Virginia

Wednesday, March 20

Morgantown, W.Va.

4 p.m.

Grand Canyon

20-14

West Virginia

15-20

Grand Canyon

West Virginia

Photo by: Ben Queen

3/20/2019 3:10:00 PM | Men's Basketball, Paul Coro

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GCU led CBI 1st-round game with 9:40 to go

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

MORGANTOWN, W.Va. — The locals call West Virginia "Almost Heaven" and it was true for a Grand Canyon team that led the Mountaineers three-fourths of the way through a College Basketball Invitational first-round game Wednesday night.

GCU led perennial power West Virginia 51-49 with less than 10 minutes to play but the Mountaineers overwhelmed the Lopes with a 22-2 run on their way to a 77-63 victory at WVU Coliseum.

The Lopes (20-14) made a gallant defensive effort against a team that was coming off last week's win against No. 7 Texas Tech. GCU led for most of the first 10 minutes of the game and stayed close for the next 20 minutes despite an off-shooting night. Senior guard Trey Drechsel scored consecutive baskets to put GCU ahead 51-49 with 9:40 to go but the Lopes missed nine of their next 10 shots as West Virginia (15-20) intensified its half-court defense and wore down the Lopes with rim attacks.

"West Virginia turned it up on us, and we didn't have an answer," GCU head coach Dan Majerle said. "Fastbreak points, we didn't get back. (We) didn't shoot the ball well from 3, obviously. (We were) just kind of worn down. I guess that's kind of our season in a nutshell. We had chances to be really good this year, and we just couldn't get over the hump. It was a great opportunity for our guys to play in an atmosphere like this. I was happy for them, I just wish they would've played a little better."

Junior swingman Oscar Frayer led GCU with 13 points as well as three blocked shots and two steals while sophomore point guard Damari Milstead added 12 points and three assists. The Lopes shot 40.3 percent from the field and hit 31.0 percent (9 for 29) of their 3-pointers. West Virginia shot 40.8 percent but attempted nine more field goals and 11 more free throws because of 17 offensive rebounds. Junior Jermaine Haley, a former New Mexico State player, led the Mountaineers with 24 points.

The Lopes kept the nation's No. 3 offensive rebounding team to one offensive board for the first 10 minutes of the game. Any worries about GCU's intensity after a Saturday WAC championship loss and cross-country travel went away with a 14-7 start over the game's first seven minutes.

"I knew they would be physical," West Virginia head coach Bob Huggins said. "They're not just big, they're skilled. They pass it well, they shoot it well. And that's what I kept telling our guys. We have to push them out of their comfort zone. If you let them play comfortable, they are really good; really, really good."

Frayer spearheaded the strong start, scoring on a backdoor cut and hitting a 3 while also getting the first of three first-half blocked shots. The Lopes matched the physical Mountaineers on the block and the boards to maintain a 17-11 lead but West Virginia went on a 9-0 run off a string of GCU missed 3s.

The Lopes took more 3-point shots (19) than 2-point shots (15) in the first half and only hit six of the 3s, although Frayer connected on two in his eight-point half. GCU held tight down the stretch of the first half despite sophomore center Alessandro Lever, junior guard Carlos Johnson and senior power forward Matt Jackson all being limited by two fouls. The trio had played well with Lever grabbing six rebounds in seven minutes. Johnson assisting three times in nine minutes and Jackson going 3 for 3 from the field for eight points in nine minutes.

The Lopes trailed 36-32 at halftime on a turnover-prompted breakaway slam at the buzzer and fell behind by four again at 43-39 with 16 minutes to go after Johnson, GCU's leading scorer on the season, picked up his third and fourth fouls within five seconds of each other. He fouled out with two points in 14 minutes.

Huggins entered Wednesday fearful of GCU's shooting and called the Lopes the biggest team the Mountaineers had faced this season.

"The defense turned everything around for us," Huggins said. "We started taking things away. They weren't able to run what they wanted to run,"

GCU kept coming, making the fans restless when Frayer's jumper gave the Lopes a 47-46 lead with 12:15 to go and when GCU retook the lead at 51-49 with 9:40 to go on senior guard Trey Drechsel scoring inside off Milstead's feed.

From there, the Mountaineers' decisive 22-2 run began with West Virginia scoring on six consecutive possessions, including four layups, a foul-line trip and a 3-pointer. It began with a second chance and continued as GCU's long misses caromed into fastbreak starters for West Virginia.

The 29 3-point attempts tied for GCU's fourth-highest total of the season. The Lopes were 1-5 when taking 27 or more 3-pointers in a game and 19-9 when taking fewer.

"For whatever reason, we couldn't sustain it," Majerle said. "What West Virginia does is they crash the boards. Offensively, they keep coming at you. One of the big things is we just didn't get back in transition. It didn't help that we were 9 for 29 from 3."

Majerle used a deeper rotation after feeling like the team ran out of gas with three games in three nights at the WAC Tournament. Sophomore power forward Roberts Blumbergs, who had been injured, played for the first time since Feb. 28. Freshman guard Tim Finke logged his most minutes (18) since March 7 and had a memorable baseline slam through two Mountaineers. Jackson ended his career strongly with eight points in 24 minutes, his most playing time since Jan. 6.

Visiting Morgantown was an experience for the Lopes, who brought along redshirting players Isiah Brown, Mikey Dixon and J.J. Rhymes. On three days' notice, West Virginia drew a crowd of 5,313 fans in a basketball-worshipping atmosphere that introduced Huggins' individual court entrance before the team and rolled out a blue carpet across the floor for starting introductions with the Mountaineer mascot's rifle shot booming.

Majerle called it a "bucket list" trip for him to West Virginia, which moved to 11-6 at home.

Each of GCU's first two seasons as a Division I postseason-eligible team ended with losses in the WAC Tournament championship game and the CBI first round.

"We'll continue to get better," Majerle said. "Playing teams like this, with atmospheres like this, in arenas like this is only going to help us.

"There was a lot of good things that happened this year for us and we'll take this experience and move on and get better for next year. We'll miss our seniors but we've got a lot of good things in store for us."

Follow Paul Coro on Twitter: @paulcoro.