Grand Canyon celebrated its four seniors Saturday night with an 85-60 home-finale victory against Fresno State that secured the No. 4 seed and a corresponding first-round bye in next week’s Mountain West Championship.
GCU (20-11, 13-7 Mountain West) recorded its fifth consecutive 20-win season and tied for third place in the conference with New Mexico, which won the head–to-head tiebreaker to make the Lopes a No. 4 tournament seed. The MW Championship first-round bye puts GCU in a Thursday quarterfinal game at 2:30 p.m. (Phoenix time) against the winner of the No. 5 seed, Nevada or Boise State, and No. 12 seed Air Force. All tourney games are played at Thomas & Mack Center in Las Vegas.
The Lopes ended the regular season on consecutive blowout wins and take a 3-1 record against the MW’s top two seeds, No. 1 Utah State and No. 2 San Diego State, into the conference tournament. GCU needs to win three tourney games in three days to reach its fourth consecutive NCAA Tournament.
Key player
As one of four players being honored on Senior Night, GCU graduate guard Brian Moore Jr. scored a game-high 18 points on 8-of-9 shooting. He added five assists, five rebounds, two steals and a blocked shot while only committing one turnover in 29 minutes.
Moore was a plus-30 in his time on the court Saturday, when he scored six points during a game-turning 16-2 run in the first half.
Key moment
The Lopes trailed 18-15 before a steal by freshman center Efe Demirel led to a Moore fastbreak score that sparked the 16-2 run that put GCU ahead 31-20 with 5:55 to go in the half.
GCU’s guards kept Jake Heidbreder, Fresno State’s leading scorer, from making a first-half field goal despite him playing all 20 minutes. The Lopes’ defense suffocated the Bulldogs during that stretch with graduate power forward Nana Owusu-Anane causing turnovers and redshirt freshman center Dennis Evans getting a block, a steal and several changed shots.
Key statistic
With junior guard Caleb Shaw playing his first game since injuring his ankle Jan. 24 at Fresno State, the GCU bench outscored the Fresno State bench 36-13 with career highs for junior guard Dusty Stromer (17 points on a career-high five 3-pointers) and Evans (12 points). After averaging 3.3 bench points in the previous three games, GCU reserves totaled more than 30 points in back-to-back games.
Quotable
GCU head coach Bryce Drew: “We talked to the underclassmen from the juniors down and said, ‘Hey, it’s Senior Night, Make sure you help your seniors go out the best way they can on their home court.’ You want to help honor your seniors that way, and I really thought the guys really bought it and were really focused. They wanted their seniors to have a good last night, and credit our seniors. They played with a lot of emotion, did a lot of good things out there and really set a tone. We talked in one huddle, and they spoke up. You could see the determination in their faces and how bad they wanted to win this game.”
What’s next?
GCU, the Havocs and Lope Nation will head to its first Mountain West Championship in Las Vegas, where the tournament starts Wednesday with four first-round games at Thomas & Mack Center. A first-round bye sends the Lopes to a Thursday quarterfinal debut at 2:30 p.m. (Phoenix time). They will play the Wednesday winner of the No. 5 seed, Nevada or Boise State, vs. No. 12 seed Air Force at Thomas & Mack Center. That quarterfinal will be broadcast on CBS Sports Network.
Return to gculopes.com for Paul Coro‘s full game story with quotes from Drew and players.