Seattle U slows Lopes for wire-to-wire win

Friday, February 24

Phoenix, Ariz.

7 p.m.

Grand Canyon

18-11,8-7WAC

Seattle U

19-10,10-6WAC

Seattle U

Grand Canyon

Photo by: David Kadlubowski

2/24/2023 9:55:00 PM | Men's Basketball, Paul Coro

Box Score Photo Gallery

GCU scores 13 in 1st half, shoots 33% in Senior Night loss

By: Paul Coro

Grand Canyon did not give their departing players the memory they wanted for Senior Night, but maybe a senior gave his team what the Lopes need to get past what unraveled Friday night.

With the chance to pass Seattle U in the race for a WAC Tournament first-round bye, GCU endured one of its worst offensive halves ever and allowed the Redhawks to never trail in a 65-54 victory at an overflow GCU Arena.

GCU (18-11, 9-7 WAC) missed an opportunity to jump Seattle U (19-10, 10-6 WAC) by missing 10 of its first 11 shots and scoring 13 first-half points, a Lopes low for the 10-year Division I era. The Redhawks, with second-leading scorer Riley Grigsby sitting out the game, led by double digits for all by 22 seconds of the second half to hurt the Lopes' aspirations going into two road games in the final regular-season week.

Before Noah Baumann, Walter Ellis and Aidan Igiehon were honored on Senior Night, Ellis became the first senior in GCU head coach Bryce Drew's coaching career to request to lead the game-day chapel. His parting message is what the Lopes need now: "Live in a way that you don't have to live in regret."

PHOENIX, AZ - FEBRUARY 24: GCU drops their game against Seattle U 65-54 lat GCU Arena. (Photo by: David Kadlubowski/GCU)

That will have to be the Lopes' mission for Wednesday's game at Southern Utah and Friday's regular-season finale at Utah Tech. GCU could still jump Southern Utah by winning in Cedar City, but the issue is Stephen F. Austin now could move past the Lopes in the chase for the WAC's fourth and final first-round WAC Tournament bye.

The Lopes played a competitive second half, but the Redhawks' 26-13 halftime lead was enough damage with GCU shooting 19% and making 10 turnovers in the first half. The Lopes made than less than one-third of their shots (32.7%) after having program-record shooting a week earlier by only missing one-third of their shots.

"Last week (vs. Abilene Christian), we were so good offensively," Drew said. "We made shots. We made plays. First half (vs. Seattle U), we looked like a completely different team. We turned the ball over 10 times. It was just careless."

Even after the 1-for-11 start, GCU only trailed 8-7 at the first half's midway point when junior power forward Gabe McGlothan converted a 3-point play. But the Lopes continued to go multiple possessions without scoring until the Redhawks ended the half on a 10-2 run and stretched the lead to 34-15 early when the Lopes opened the second half with two turnovers.

"This was our best 40 minutes of basketball this season," Seattle U head coach Chris Victor told goseattleu.com. "And what timing for it.."

After a Drew time out with the game-high 19-point deficit, GCU sophomore guard Ray Harrison scored the next 11 Lopes points but Seattle U answered most of it, including consecutive 3s by guard Paris Dawson.

The Lopes' best challenge started with an Ellis 3-pointer and used a McGlothan follow to cut Seattle U's lead to 45-37 with 9:40 to go, but the Redhawks scored on three consecutive trips with two layups and free throws to thwart the push.

"We played so great last Friday," Drew said. "I thought it was our best game of the year. They knew the importance of this game. They talked about it themselves without the coaches. They knew what was at stake. I don't know if it's the inconsistency of certain players or not having that alpha dog that can, 'Hey, I'll bring confidence to you, you and you. I'll go win this game. Get on my shoulders.'

"It seemed like no one really took that role on tonight. It was not a good night, probably our worst performance of the year on our home court."

PHOENIX, AZ - FEBRUARY 24: GCU drops their game against Seattle U 65-54 lat GCU Arena. (Photo by: David Kadlubowski/GCU)

Seattle's top threats, guards Cameron Tyson and Alex Schumacher, went 11 for 37 from the field and 4 for 16 from 3-point range. Tyson led the Redhawks with 22 points, but role player and 6-foot-10 sophomore Brandton Chatfield went 7 for 7 on dunks and layups to double his season average with 14 points.

"We wanted to win for the seniors," Drew said. "The seniors were fired up. We got out there and things didn't go like we thought it was going to go. We tried harder, and I think the harder we tried, the worse it got."

Harrison led GCU with 19 while McGlothan posted his 15th career double-double and surpassed 1,000 career points with his 12-point, 10-rebound game.

In their home finales, Ellis posted three points and four rebounds with Baumann adding six points and Igiehon ending on a blocked shot in four minutes.

"The result hurts, but being able to share this moment with my family and having my parents, my niece and all these people here and sharing one last moment with the fans was a special night," Ellis said. "I'm pretty calm and cool with stuff, but the (postgame) emotions were really about what this game meant about our season. That's what hurt the most."

Drew said the team would be back at practice Saturday for a character check ahead of Wednesday's first meeting with Southern Utah (19-9, 11-4 WAC), which plays at Sam Houston on Saturday. Aside from the forfeit win from New Mexico State and the added game against NAIA opponent Park, GCU is 6-7 since losing Jovan Blacksher Jr. to a season-ending knee injury. GCU won its fourth straight game for an 8-2 stretch in the game he was injured.

"We hate losing and our fans hate losing," Drew said. "These losses, they stink and they hurt and they're awful and they're terrible and we're disappointed, but there's guys in that locker room – a core group – that really hurt. Sometimes you have to really hurt before you can really feel success. I'm optimistic that these awful losses that we're experiencing now, that so much growth is happening inside of these guys."