GCU seeks local edge after losing last 2 at home

Grand Canyon has one of the loudest, most spirited college basketball environments in the country.

But that did no good the last time the Antelopes were at home. Before sellout crowds of more than 7,000 fans with ear-piercing sound levels coming from the 4,000 or so Havocs, the Antelopes dropped out of the race for first place in the Western Athletic Conference with three-point losses to UT-Rio Grande Valley and New Mexico State.

That home hangover carried over last week into Kansas City, where they were awful in the first half.

Senior forward Michael Finke led them back from a huge hole and into overtime, before losing their third consecutive WAC game. Finke scored a career-high 36 points, but he said, “I’d rather score zero points and we win the game.”

They have a chance to get back on track at GCU Arena on Thursday night against California Baptist, the start of a three-game homestand, before finishing out the regular season on the road at Utah Valley and Seattle.

“I expect to win every time that we’re here, no matter who we play,” GCU coach Dan Majerle said. “I told our guys we have no room to slip up. We have to be playing good basketball.

“They’ll play hard. We’ll see what happens.”

The Antelopes (15-10, 8-4), alone in second place in the WAC, got a confidence boost Saturday when they scored the game’s first 17 points and blew out Chicago State.

But Cal Baptist (14-10, 5-5) is a goodshooting team that made 8 of 10 3pointers in the first half and finished shooting 51 percent from the field in the game in the 90-73 home loss to GCU on Jan. 26.

Finke, a transfer from Illinois, has been the go-to guy as of late with Gerard Martin out for the season with a knee injury.

“He’s just starting to figure it out,” Majerle said. “I think he’s seeing the end is near and he’s letting it all hang out. He’s been a lot more aggressive offensively.”

After the three-game losing streak, Finke said the players sat down together and talked things out.