GCU opens WAC with loss on road

The two-week break between games didn't do Grand Canyon's basketball team much good.

It fell into the same mistakes that plagued it during the non-conference part of the schedule and fell at Cal State Bakersfield 69-62 on Saturday night in the Western Athletic Conference opener for both teams.

This was the first time GCU (5-10, 0-1) lost a WAC opener in coach Dan Majerle's tenure that began seven years ago at the start of the school's transition from NCAA Division II to I.

The Antelopes blew a 12-point lead in the final 10 minutes, and failed to score in the last two minutes, as the Roadrunners (7-9, 1-0) finished on a 13-0 run.

The Antelopes are 0-3 on the road. Carlos Johnson was GCU's biggest threat with 17 points and six rebounds. Freshman point guard Jovan Blacksher Jr., added 14 points and five rebounds in 37 minutes, and guard Isiah Brown had 12 points and seven rebounds.

GCU's top scorer, Alessandro Lever, a 6-foot-10 junior, got into foul trouble and suffered a cut to his head, causing him to play 23 minutes. He had nine points and three rebounds.

Guard Mikey Dixon, playing in his third game since becoming eligible for GCU, missed all eight of his field-goal tries and finished with two points in 28 minutes.

GCU shot 39 percent, and, even though it held Bakersfield to 35 percent shooting overall from the field, it gave up another high 3-point shooting percentage (47.1), as the Roadrunners (7-9, 1-0) made 8 of 17 from behind the arc.

GCU got outrebounded 43-32. De'Monte Buckingham had 25 points and Taze Moore 15, as the two combined to make 6 of 11 3-pointers to lead CSU Bakersfield.

GCU next plays at home Saturday night against California Baptist (10-5), which lost to defending WAC Tournament champion New Mexico State, 8671, on Saturday.