Late lull leaves Lopes with loss

Saturday, January 4

Bakersfield, Calif. / Icardo Center

8 p.m. (Phoenix time)

Grand Canyon

5-10,0-1WAC

CSU Bakersfield

7-9,1-0WAC

Grand Canyon

CSU Bakersfield

1/4/2020 8:55:00 PM | Men's Basketball, Paul Coro

Box Score Postgame with Coach Majerle Photo Gallery

GCU opens WAC play with loss at Bakersfield

By: Paul Coro

BAKERSFIELD, Calif. — The fresh start Grand Canyon needed was there for the taking Saturday night when senior Carlos Johnson made a sweet assist to senior Lorenzo Jenkins and smiled as the Lopes took a 12-point lead at CSU Bakersfield with 11:45 to go.

The WAC opener turned dicey but GCU still led by six points with 2:46 to go when Johnson scored in the post but the frustration returned when the Lopes did not get a point or a defensive stop for the final 2 1/2 minutes of their final visit to the Icardo Center. The Roadrunners play a high-energy brand that does not quit and that proved crucial when they closed with a 13-0 run to steal a 69-62 victory.

"I thought we did well," GCU head coach Dan Majerle said. "For the most part, I thought we outplayed them. We just weren't tough enough down the stretch. I'll look at the film. There's a lot of things we could do differently down the stretch."

The Lopes played their best offensive basketball of the season against a strong defensive team for the second half's first 10 minutes. GCU (5-10, 0-1 WAC) made nine of its first 14 shots once freshman point guard Jovan Blacksher Jr., who had a 12-point second half, made a mid-range jumper for a 50-38 lead with 10:45 to go.

"Jovan's a great player and a great person," Majerle said. "He's a freshman point guard. I've got no problems with Jovan. He's got to make shots. He's going to be wide open."

But the Lopes' momentum change from a jagged first half seemed to have cooled on the previous play, which was stopped because GCU junior center Alessandro Lever took a blow to his head and left the game to have the blood cleaned and the cut stopped. In the wake of that, Bakersfield quickly cut down the lead by making 3-pointers on three consecutive trips with the final two chances coming off Lopes turnovers.

GCU staved off the surge and still led for more than 18 consecutive minutes, holding off the Roadrunners (7-9, 1-0 WAC) with back-to-back free throw trips by senior power forward Lorenzo Jenkins before the Blacksher jumper that put the Lopes ahead 62-56.

Bakersfield only shot 35.9% from the field for the game but made its final five shots of the game and benefited from the extra opportunities created by 14 offensive rebounds.

"We might have a losing record and people might see that but they don't know our team," Roadrunners junior guard Taze Moore said.

Bakersfield junior power forward Greg Lee grabbed a career-high 13 rebounds. The Roadrunners entered the game ranked 14th in the nation for offensive rebounding with 13.7 per game. They also ranked 11th for fouls at 21.6 per game but only were called for 14 against GCU.

Bakersfield's 13-0 run over the final 2:21 began with junior guard Taze Moore scoring on three consecutive possessions. The last was the most hurtful, when he came open for an uncontested layup on a baseline inbound, giving the Roadrunners a 63-62 lead with 42 seconds remaining. It was Bakersfield's first lead since going ahead 24-22 with 4:40 remaining in the first half.

GCU was still in a good position when Lever was fouled on the ensuing possession, but he missed the front-end free throw in a bonus situation with 34.1 seconds to go and GCU had to take a foul. That put the Lopes down 65-62 with 31.5 seconds to go. GCU decided to go for a quick score but junior guard Isiah Brown was blocked by Moore from behind on a drive to cinch the win thereafter with free throws.

"We'll get in the gym and keep working," Majerle said. "We have to continue to shoot. I've been really pleased with our attitude and how hard we work. I've got no problems with these guys. This is going to be a hard lesson for them. We're all disappointed, but there's a lot of good things happening."

The Lopes shot 39.6% from the field with only nine turnovers and were led by Johnson's 17 points on 6-of-13 shooting. Blacksher added 14 points with three assists while Brown scored 12 on 5-of-12 shooting. In his third game since sitting out since the start of 2019, Lopes junior guard Mikey Dixon went 0 for 8 from the field without attempting a 3-pointer in 27 minutes.

"For whatever reason, Mikey's not playing the way he plays in practice," Majerle said. "When he catches that ball in practice and he's open, he shoots it and he makes it most of the time. Tonight, I'm watching him and he's hesitating. He gets open. I run a few plays for him. He's hesitating. You can't drive it when they're giving you the shot. He's going to be a really good player for us. He's taken a lot of time off. He'll figure it out."

The first half began less than ideally for GCU when Lever picked up his first foul in the first 88 seconds and left the game for the remainder of the half when he was called for a second foul with 11 minutes ago. Meanwhile, a Bakersfield team that only averages five 3-pointers per game made three in the first five minutes to take a 14-7 lead.

But the Lopes dug in defensively at that point, held their own on the boards without the 6-foot-10 presence of Lever and worked their way back into the game. Freshman Bryce Okpoh gave GCU quality defensive minutes and the Lopes zone was effective to keep Bakersfield without a field goal for seven minutes. Dixon scored his only two points on free throws but a sloppy close let Bakersfield put the game at a 28-28 halftime tie.

"Every time we got in the huddle, even when we were down 12, we were being confident over there," said Bakersfield guard De'Monte Buckingham, who scored 25 points after entering with a scoring average of 8.9. "Coach (Rod) Barnes was telling us we'd be fine. Just being confident in your team and yourself. Tonight was just one of those nights where we pulled it through."

Follow Paul Coro on Twitter: @paulcoro.