Moving on, Lopes pound Broncos again

Friday, January 30

Phoenix, Ariz.

7 p.m.

Grand Canyon

14-7,7-3Mountain West

Boise State

13-9,5-6Mountain West

Boise St.

Grand Canyon

Photo by: David Kadlubowski

1/30/2026 11:58:00 PM | Men's Basketball, Paul Coro

Box Score Photo Gallery

Lopes record 2nd 17-point win over Broncos, who shoot 25% in 2nd half

By: Paul Coro

What loss?

Three nights after the most excruciating of losses, Grand Canyon expunged all that salty emotion with the sweet feeling of pulling away dominantly in its favorite place to play well.

GCU followed up this month's 17-point win at Boise State by riding the Broncos for another one Friday night, when the Lopes shot a season-best 59.2% and did an about-face defensively for an 86-69 victory at a patriotically packed Global Credit Union Arena.

Much like scoring 42 points in each half to beat Utah State two weeks ago, GCU scored 43 in each half to cool the conference's hottest team and end Boise State's four-game winning streak with the arena's 200th Lopes win.

Phoenix, AZ Jan. 30, 2026: The Lopes knock off Boise State 86-69 at Global Credit Union Arena. David Kadlubowski/GCU

Phoenix, AZ Jan. 30, 2026: The Lopes knock off Boise State 86-69 at Global Credit Union Arena. David Kadlubowski/GCU

Beneath the storm of letting a six-point lead slip away in the final minute at the Nevada, GCU's foundation of talent, toughness and defense was not affected for the next game up. The Lopes ended the first half of conference play at 7-3 and within two games of first-place San Diego State.

"We all had a chip on shoulder coming into tonight," said GCU junior guard Dusty Stromer, who scored a career-high 16 points off the bench with graduate guard Brian Moore Jr. returning to the starting lineup after two games out. "The last game hurt, and we didn't want to let that carry over. We all came in with a clear head, and we were excited to take our anger our on these guys.

The Lopes went from 17% 3-point shooting Tuesday (4 for 23) to a season-best 60% accuracy Friday (9 for 15), when Stromer made 3 of 4 and graduate power forward Nana Owusu-Anane sank a career-high four 3s on five tries.

But after the hot shooting was only good for a 43-41 halftime lead (GCU is now 13-0 in games it led at the half), Lopes coaches asked for their players to turn up their toughness and Owusu-Anane, per usual, led that effort. In the first few minutes, he tied up a Bronco on a loose ball, blocked a shot and forced a miss to start a stretch of nearly six minutes that did not allow a Boise State made field goal.

Phoenix, AZ Jan. 30, 2026: The Lopes knock off Boise State 86-69 at Global Credit Union Arena. David Kadlubowski/GCU

"Going into the game, I try to take it personal," Owusu-Anane said. "Their power forward over there is one of the really good players in our conference, and I feel like I'm one of the best, if not the best, defenders in the conference. I tried to do my best to make it hard on him."

The Broncos only made two shots in the first 12 minutes of the second half, watching the Lopes stoke their home crowd with a 21-6 run that broke open the game. GCU's 59.2% shooting was the highest clip Boise State had surrendered since last January at Utah State.

"The last 18:26 (of the game), the guys were flying over," GCU head coach Bryce Drew said. "We had some awesome turnaround plays and blocks in transition. I really thought we shared the ball. Nine turnovers. Jaden (Henley) and Makaih (Williams) had 10 assists. It was just really fun basketball to watch."

The crowd agreed, relishing the Lopes' best shooting game since November 2024 with four players scoring 16 or more points. Henley led GCU with 20 points and a career high-tying six assists, although he only had two points until he went on an 18-point flurry in the game's final 11 minutes.

Phoenix, AZ Jan. 30, 2026: The Lopes knock off Boise State 86-69 at Global Credit Union Arena. David Kadlubowski/GCU

"It was really a credit to his patience," Drew said of Henley. "He didn't force shots. He had six assists. He just played really good basketball and then the ball found him at the end. He just made some spectacular plays in transition and late in the clock."

Stromer, Owusu-Anane and freshman center Efe Demirel each scored 16 points. For Demirel, it made for his best back-to-back games of the season, following up his first double-double on Tuesday (14 points on 7-of-8 shooting with 10 rebounds) by going 6 for 6 from the field and 4 for 4 from the free throw line and protecting the paint defensively Friday against one of the most physical teams in the conference.

"When big bodies hit each other and they're working for position, it's tiring," Drew said. "He's gotten a lot better with that. At the beginning of the year, he couldn't play 27 minutes in a game that physical. That's a credit to him fighting through some fatigue and really being motivated to stay on the court."

GCU added some double-teaming wrinkles in the second half, but it was also the instincts or hustle of the defense that turned the tide.

Phoenix, AZ Jan. 30, 2026: The Lopes knock off Boise State 86-69 at Global Credit Union Arena. David Kadlubowski/GCU

In a series of three Boise State possessions, Owusu-Anane blocked Boise State guard Aginaldo Neto's fastbreak finish, graduate power forward Wilhelm Breidenbach took a charge from forward Bhan Buom in the paint and Moore came from behind to poke guard Dylan Andrews' dribble loose.

Each of those plays resulted in points, including Breidenbach's driving lefthanded layup while being fouled for a 64-48 lead that capped the 21-6 run. After being shorthanded Tuesday without Moore, GCU managed missing injured guard Caleb Shaw better Friday with Stromer's 16 off the bench and Breidenbach delivering 11 quality minutes.

"We talked after the game and I said, 'Look at your stat line. You're not Player of the Game, but you made plays of the game,' " Drew said. "His charge was a great momentum play. His lefty and-one. He just brought a presence and physicality with some of his rebounds. We had some loose balls that he brought. He did some intangible things that don't show up on the stat sheet, but they show up in winning. It seems like he played 20 minutes for everything he did out there. I can't believe it was only 11 minutes."

Allowing Boise State to shoot 25% in the second half brought the Broncos' game clip down to 39.6%, making them the seventh GCU opponent in the past eight games to shoot less than 40%.

The Broncos shot 52% in the first half, when the Lopes were able to go back and forth with offensive arsenal.

"They create a problem with their quickness," Boise State head coach Leon Rice said on the Bronco Radio Network. "They think they can go by every one of us."

Demirel opened the game with a second-chance 3-point play, and Owusu-Anane got hot off junior guard Makaih Williams' drive-and-kicks before Stromer's first 3-pointer prompted a Boise State timeout.

Phoenix, AZ Jan. 30, 2026: The Lopes knock off Boise State 86-69 at Global Credit Union Arena. David Kadlubowski/GCU

"It's the best feeling in the world," Stromer said of the crowd reaction. "It's unexplainable. It's why I play this game. That's why I fell in love with this game in the first place for moments like that. To have a night like that, I'm just grateful for it.

The former Gonzaga player added, "I don't know if I've been in a louder place. That was crazy. I couldn't hear anything. We literally couldn't anything. Even in the timeout talking to Coach, we couldn't hear Coach. We're all coming super close to him trying to hear."

The Broncos made their final threat by cutting the Lopes lead to 80-69 with 3:01 to go, but Henley broke Boise State's full-court press by going for his second coast-to-coast layup in a matter of minutes. After missing free throws at the end of Tuesday's game, he made four in a row at the end of Friday's game.

Between a turnover on the second play of the second half and a voluntary shot-clock violation to end the game, GCU committed one turnover and finished the night with nine. The Lopes have not made fewer turnovers in a game since Dec. 13.

"No one backed down," Drew said. "No one backed away from it. We lost a game, and we've got to get better from it. Let's get better. It starts with me as a coach. I've got to put stuff into practice and into play that helps us expand on the areas we've got to get better at. I'm really proud of the guys to bounce back against a really good team that's playing really good basketball."

GCU's second half of Mountain West play starts at home Tuesday night with its first game against last-place Air Force. The week ends Saturday in Las Vegas with the Lopes' first matchup of the season against UNLV.

The Lopes have won four consecutive home conference games by double digits, including previous wins against San Diego State, Utah State and San José State.

"In an atmosphere like this and with a team the way they play in here, you've got respond and weather about eight to nine storms," Rice told the Bronco Radio Network. "We probably weathered five or six."