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
Monday, November 7
Phoenix, Ariz.
7 p.m.
Grand Canyon
1-0
60
vs
54
Montana State
0-1
1
2
F
Montana St.
36
18
54
Grand Canyon
19
41
60
Lopes rally from 19 down, top Montana State
11/7/2022 9:30:00 PM | Men's Basketball, Paul Coro
Blacksher's 18 points leads GCU comeback against Big Sky champion
Grand Canyon's Opening Night was scheduled to start at 7 p.m., but the Lopes arrived at about 8:30 p.m.
GCU made the most of that time by storming back for one of its greatest Division I-era comebacks. The Lopes rallied from a 19-point, second-half hole to ignite a sold-out GCU Arena with a 60-54, season-opening victory.
"What a way to start the college basketball season with a game like that," Lopes head coach Bryce Drew said. "I don't think, in my coaching career, I've had one like that, down 19 and come back in the second half like that."
The GCU lockdown defense of the Drew era flexed for a 41-18 second half, when GCU held Montana State to 22.2% shooting from the field to give the offense time to activate its net radar.
The Lopes' onslaught came about five minutes into the second half, when a 14-2 run started with field goals on five consecutive possessions. GCU had not put more than two scores together until that stretch, when the Lopes showed off their offensive balance by getting the points from sources other than junior point guard Jovan Blacksher Jr.'s team-high 18 points.
"It's kind of a freeze-frame," Drew said. "The ball did not move great again. And then in the second half, we got more into attack mode."
The run was capped by junior power forward Yvan Ouedraogo, who held Big Sky Most Valuable Player Jubrile Belo to nine points and six rebounds. He posted up to cut the Bobcats edge to 44-40 with 10:20 to go in the game.
"First half, we were ball-watching," Blacksher said. "Second half, I told every player, 'If you can get the ball off the rebound, push it. I'm playing off of you.' I think that's what we did."
The Lopes did not take a lead until there was 5:04 remaining, when Blacksher made a free throw. Montana State retook the lead at 52-51 on the next trip, but the Bobcats did not make another shot for the final 4 1/2 minutes of the game amid crowd noise that flipped as much as the score.
"You see so many games in your career where you fight back so hard, get close and can't get over the hump," Drew said. "It was a blessing that we were able to get over that hump and be able to keep it. I'm really proud of the guys. You learn lessons in games like this."
After a power drive by sophomore guard Ray Harrison and an even more powerful baseline slam from junior power forward Gabe McGlothan, Drew called an inbound play for Blacksher to ice the game with a 3 after he had missed his first four 3-point tries.
Using a McGlothan screen and an assist from graduate forward Noah Baumann, Blacksher iced the game and fired up the Havocs from the corner by giving GCU a 58-52 lead with 24 seconds remaining.
"I had a feeling it was coming to me, and then when I found out it was coming to me, I just knew I had to put my big boy pants on," Blacksher said.
The Lopes were ambitious to schedule a NCAA tournament qualifier that was selected to win its conference again, but the matchup turned malicious.
GCU showed a sellout crowd a blip of the WAC champion that it is projected to be when Blacksher scored on the game's first two possessions. The national marquee matchup, one of three pitting conference favorites, unraveled from there with 15 unanswered points by Montana State as the Lopes were shut out for eight minutes.
The Bobcats, a 27-8 team last year, kept the lead in double digits and ended the half on a 7-0 run to lead 36-19.
"First half, they came and hit us in the mouth, and we were on our heels," Drew said. "They were just more physical than us, just better in every aspect of the game. Went into halftime and wanted to find guys who would play hard and play with some toughness."
Ouedraogo said his teammates played nervous in the first half, so he told them in the halftime locker room that that they needed to play harder before the coaches fired up the room.
"Actually, it came from ourselves," Ouedraogo said. "We were like, 'We're not going to lose.' We had been putting too much work in to go and play the way we did. It was a total switch of energy. Coach Drew said, 'To me, the score is 0-0. I just want to see who is going to play hard.' "
Blacksher scored on the first two possessions of the game, but the Lopes went 4 for 22 after that in the first half. And they did not make up for it on defense.
GCU was beaten backdoor and gave up 10 of the Bobcats' 14 field goals in the paint, prompting Drew to have redshirt freshmen Isaiah Shaw and Kobe Knox make their collegiate debuts as second-half starters.
"Coach Drew told me at halftime that we need somebody to play hard and looked at me and said, 'You ready?' " said Knox, who redshirted last season with Shaw and finished knee surgery rehabilitation recently. "I said, 'Yes, sir.' Ball pressure, defense, getting that block, Isaiah hitting that 3 and momentum turned everything around because we needed that energy for the second half."
Shaw hit a 3-pointer and Knox blocked a shot to spur the energy turnaround before the scoreboard flip came. Drew told the bench that the players giving that all-out effort were going to earn the time.
"We got a lot done in one game," Drew said. "A lot of expectations. They know what we want. They can see, 'OK, if I don't do this, this is what's going to happen.' Sometimes, you don't get to this point until seven, eight games into the season. We got there Game 1."
That first-half woes were more than shooting 25% of the field. GCU, a team that ranked in the top five for defensive field goal percentage in Drew's first two seasons, allowed 54% first-half shooting with most of the scores coming unobstructed at the rim.
"We knew that's not our style of play," Blacksher said. "We knew that's not who we are. In basketball, if things aren't going well on the offensive end, we know that defense can help, so we had to get into the mentality of playing hard and with toughness."
The Lopes return to GCU Arena on Wednesday for a 7 p.m. game against San Diego Christian before playing their first road game on Saturday at Nevada.
GCU made the most of that time by storming back for one of its greatest Division I-era comebacks. The Lopes rallied from a 19-point, second-half hole to ignite a sold-out GCU Arena with a 60-54, season-opening victory.
"What a way to start the college basketball season with a game like that," Lopes head coach Bryce Drew said. "I don't think, in my coaching career, I've had one like that, down 19 and come back in the second half like that."
The GCU lockdown defense of the Drew era flexed for a 41-18 second half, when GCU held Montana State to 22.2% shooting from the field to give the offense time to activate its net radar.
The Lopes' onslaught came about five minutes into the second half, when a 14-2 run started with field goals on five consecutive possessions. GCU had not put more than two scores together until that stretch, when the Lopes showed off their offensive balance by getting the points from sources other than junior point guard Jovan Blacksher Jr.'s team-high 18 points.
"It's kind of a freeze-frame," Drew said. "The ball did not move great again. And then in the second half, we got more into attack mode."
The run was capped by junior power forward Yvan Ouedraogo, who held Big Sky Most Valuable Player Jubrile Belo to nine points and six rebounds. He posted up to cut the Bobcats edge to 44-40 with 10:20 to go in the game.
"First half, we were ball-watching," Blacksher said. "Second half, I told every player, 'If you can get the ball off the rebound, push it. I'm playing off of you.' I think that's what we did."
The Lopes did not take a lead until there was 5:04 remaining, when Blacksher made a free throw. Montana State retook the lead at 52-51 on the next trip, but the Bobcats did not make another shot for the final 4 1/2 minutes of the game amid crowd noise that flipped as much as the score.
"You see so many games in your career where you fight back so hard, get close and can't get over the hump," Drew said. "It was a blessing that we were able to get over that hump and be able to keep it. I'm really proud of the guys. You learn lessons in games like this."
After a power drive by sophomore guard Ray Harrison and an even more powerful baseline slam from junior power forward Gabe McGlothan, Drew called an inbound play for Blacksher to ice the game with a 3 after he had missed his first four 3-point tries.Using a McGlothan screen and an assist from graduate forward Noah Baumann, Blacksher iced the game and fired up the Havocs from the corner by giving GCU a 58-52 lead with 24 seconds remaining.
"I had a feeling it was coming to me, and then when I found out it was coming to me, I just knew I had to put my big boy pants on," Blacksher said.
The Lopes were ambitious to schedule a NCAA tournament qualifier that was selected to win its conference again, but the matchup turned malicious.
GCU showed a sellout crowd a blip of the WAC champion that it is projected to be when Blacksher scored on the game's first two possessions. The national marquee matchup, one of three pitting conference favorites, unraveled from there with 15 unanswered points by Montana State as the Lopes were shut out for eight minutes.
The Bobcats, a 27-8 team last year, kept the lead in double digits and ended the half on a 7-0 run to lead 36-19.
"First half, they came and hit us in the mouth, and we were on our heels," Drew said. "They were just more physical than us, just better in every aspect of the game. Went into halftime and wanted to find guys who would play hard and play with some toughness."
Ouedraogo said his teammates played nervous in the first half, so he told them in the halftime locker room that that they needed to play harder before the coaches fired up the room."Actually, it came from ourselves," Ouedraogo said. "We were like, 'We're not going to lose.' We had been putting too much work in to go and play the way we did. It was a total switch of energy. Coach Drew said, 'To me, the score is 0-0. I just want to see who is going to play hard.' "
Blacksher scored on the first two possessions of the game, but the Lopes went 4 for 22 after that in the first half. And they did not make up for it on defense.
GCU was beaten backdoor and gave up 10 of the Bobcats' 14 field goals in the paint, prompting Drew to have redshirt freshmen Isaiah Shaw and Kobe Knox make their collegiate debuts as second-half starters.
"Coach Drew told me at halftime that we need somebody to play hard and looked at me and said, 'You ready?' " said Knox, who redshirted last season with Shaw and finished knee surgery rehabilitation recently. "I said, 'Yes, sir.' Ball pressure, defense, getting that block, Isaiah hitting that 3 and momentum turned everything around because we needed that energy for the second half."
Shaw hit a 3-pointer and Knox blocked a shot to spur the energy turnaround before the scoreboard flip came. Drew told the bench that the players giving that all-out effort were going to earn the time."We got a lot done in one game," Drew said. "A lot of expectations. They know what we want. They can see, 'OK, if I don't do this, this is what's going to happen.' Sometimes, you don't get to this point until seven, eight games into the season. We got there Game 1."
That first-half woes were more than shooting 25% of the field. GCU, a team that ranked in the top five for defensive field goal percentage in Drew's first two seasons, allowed 54% first-half shooting with most of the scores coming unobstructed at the rim.
"We knew that's not our style of play," Blacksher said. "We knew that's not who we are. In basketball, if things aren't going well on the offensive end, we know that defense can help, so we had to get into the mentality of playing hard and with toughness."
The Lopes return to GCU Arena on Wednesday for a 7 p.m. game against San Diego Christian before playing their first road game on Saturday at Nevada.
Team Stats
MSU
GCU
FG%
.385
.434
3FG%
.231
.286
FT%
.611
.571
RB
35
34
TO
10
10
STL
5
4
Game Leaders
Scoring
Pts
18
FGM
7
3FGM
1
FTM
3
Pts
13
FGM
5
3FGM
1
FTM
2
Pts
8
FGM
3
3FGM
0
FTM
2
Pts
8
FGM
3
3FGM
2
FTM
0
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