Woods leads clutch close, puts GCU in semis

Thursday, March 10

Las Vegas, Nev.

6 p.m. PT / 7 p.m. MT

Grand Canyon

23-7,12-5WAC

Sam Houston

19-14,13-5WAC

Sam Houston

Grand Canyon

3/10/2022 7:51:00 PM | Men's Basketball, Paul Coro

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Lopes guard's 19 2nd-half points sets up Friday game vs. NMSU

By: Paul Coro

LAS VEGAS – Grand Canyon took the Orleans Arena floor as a WAC Tournament defending champion and responded like one Thursday night to advance to a Friday night semifinal against New Mexico State.

In a drum-tight elimination game, the GCU-Sam Houston scoreboard stayed within a possession for more than 12 consecutive second-half minutes until Lopes graduate guard Holland Woods II's second half was too much for the Bearkats. Woods scored 19 of his game-high 24 points after halftime to help GCU pull out a 71-66 victory at Orleans Arena.

The Lopes (23-7) will try to reverse two regular-season losses against the Aggies (24-6) at 7 p.m. (Phoenix time) on Friday for the right to play for a NCAA tournament bid in Saturday's championship.

"I think they've got the best team in this league," Sam Houston head coach Jason Hooten said of GCU. "I think they've got everything. They've got guards. They've got big guys. They're really good defensively."

The Lopes corrected their loose ball care of the first half to make their 48% field-goal shooting for the game stand up. GCU scored on the final nine possessions of the game, even surviving a Sam Houston 4-point play with Woods scoring 12 of the last 16 points.

"That was a different set of emotions," Woods said of playing for his collegiate career's life. "When they started knocking down some shots, I was like, 'Let's do this. Let's turn it on.' So I was playing with a little bit of desperation out there. I feel like our whole team was doing that and that's what turned it around for us in the second half."

The Bearkats (19-14) led 62-61 when reserve Donte Powers made his only shot of the game, a 3-pointer while being fouled. But Woods responded by scoring on a pivot shot in the lane and the Lopes never trailed again by making their final nine free throws in a row. WAC Tournament defending champion GCU tops Sam Houston 71-66 to advance to a Friday night semifinal against New Mexico State.

WAC Tournament defending champion GCU tops Sam Houston 71-66 to advance to a Friday night semifinal against New Mexico State.

"That was an intense game," GCU head coach Bryce Drew said of a game with 11 ties and nine lead changes. "That's what conference tournaments are about. Back and forth. Lead changes. Players on both teams making play after play."

Woods recorded his ninth 20-point game of the season, hitting three clutch 3-pointers to continue his career-best 3-point shooting season (37%) but breaking Bearkats defenders down off the dribble even more.

"He was terrific down the stretch," Drew said of Woods. "He wanted the ball. He made aggressive moves."

Sam Houston versatile star Savion Flagg, an All-WAC first-team player, missed seven of his last eight shots with the Lopes defense relegating him to the perimeter except for his one make. He went 1 for 9 on 3-pointers, but his teammates went 6 for 13 on 3s.

GCU only made four second-half turnovers without Sam Houston getting a point off any of them. The Lopes took control of the boards, outscoring the Bearkats 11-2 on second chances in the second half.

WAC Tournament defending champion GCU tops Sam Houston 71-66 to advance to a Friday night semifinal against New Mexico State.

The Lopes bench continued to be a huge difference in this five-game winning streak, outscoring opponents' reserves by an average of 16 points per game after a 20-6 advantage Thursday night. Guard Chance McMillian led the effort with 12 points, his fourth double-digit game in the past five games after having three double-digit performances in the first 25 games.

"This time of year, getting productivity from your bench is huge, especially when you have to play back-to-back games," Drew said. "Everybody got double-digit minutes so hopefully that'll help us tomorrow."

GCU committed 10 turnovers, more than it had in either of the previous two games, and went without an offensive rebound for the game's first 15 minutes. That made a 30-29 halftime deficit a relief.

The Lopes grabbed halftime momentum by ending the half on an 8-0 run, sparked by junior center Aidan Igiehon with a jump hook and five rebounds in seven first-half minutes.

"Big play," Drew said. "Aidan is getting better and better. He really helped us."

GCU crushed Sam Houston 67-41 two weeks ago but was met by the physical version of the Bearkats that had defeated the Lopes in Huntsville, Texas, in January. Facing changing defenses, GCU overdribbled into seven turnovers in the first nine minutes to spoil its good early shooting, including two 3-pointers from sophomore power forward Gabe McGlothan.

The Lopes led 14-11 before Flagg hit his first shot, when he was left open for a 3-pointer. Flagg scored nine of Sam Houston's next 14 points as it opened a 28-19 lead. The Lopes trailed 30-21 with 3:26 before halftime, but GCU closed on on the 8-0 run that was capped by McMillian hitting a 3-pointer. McMillian led GCU's first-half scoring with seven points.

"They (the fans) bring us energy and we feed off that," said McMillian, who averaged 11.5 points at last year's WAC Tournament. "I'm pretty sure everyone felt the Havocs' energy and we went off that. That translated to the court. It was just fun out there."

All this unfolded Thursday night while New Mexico State rested as the tournament's No. 1 seed. The Aggies downed the Lopes 71-61 on Jan. 29 in Las Cruces, New Mexico, and played one of their best games of the season in an 82-66 win on Feb. 19 in Phoenix. New Mexico State enters the tournament with losses in two of its last three regular-season games, falling at Chicago State and at home to Stephen F. Austin.

"It was definitely a survive-and-advance mentality for us, but who doesn't want a team that you lost to twice again," Woods said. "They're a good team and we're going to be ready to play them. We're going to show them a different team and be ready to go."

Lope Nation surely will turn out again Friday night after surrounding Orleans Arena with purple-clad fans on each side and Havocs in their usual baseline bleachers.

"A home game," Woods said. "I'm not going to lie. The Lopes surprised me. You gotta love it."

Drew, in his second season, continues to get the full effect of the support this year with the WAC Tournament being another new facet.

"If we would've had this experience last year, some of those seniors may have come back for another year," Drew said. "It's great to play in front of them. No question, they give us tremendous energy. We're just thankful we get another game to play in front of them tomorrow."