GCU rally falls short against Wyoming
Grand Canyon recovered from its ice-cold first-half shooting with Jovan Blacksher Jr., and Gabe McGlothan leading the comeback.
But, in the end, Wyoming made the big shots down the stretch to hold off GCU for a 68-61 victory before a sellout crowd of more than 7,000 at GCU Arena on Monday night.
“I was proud of our guys in the second half the way they fought,” GCU coach Bryce Drew said. “It seemed like every loose ball, every bounce, every 50-50 ended up in their hands somehow.
“Usually, when that happens, you’re not in position to win.”
It was the first quality team that GCU (3-1) faced this year. Wyoming (4-0) had just come off an overtime win over Pac-12 Washington. It was the kind of intense battle that GCU will see in the Western Athletic Conference in January.
But the Lopes had to go without guard Holland Woods II, who was out with an illness, after making five 3pointers and scoring 25 points in a rout of Prairie View A&M.
Blacksher and Woods feed off each other, each able to break down the defense off the dribble and set the other up for open jumpers.
Blacksher made only 2 of 11 shots in the first half when the Lopes fell in a 26-18 hole.
Blacksher ended up with 20 points and McGlothan 17, both doing most of their damage in the second half. McGlothan ended up with 12 rebounds. Yvan Ouedraogo had nine boards.
“He has to do a lot more off the bounce,” Drew said of Blacksher without Woods in the game. “They can key on him a lot more. We look forward to having Holland back on the floor.”
The 20 offensive rebounds helped get the Antelopes (3-1) in the game in the second half.
“It gave us an opportunity to win down the stretch,” Drew said.
After taking a 61-60 lead on Chance McMillian’s tough driving shot with 2:32 to play, GCU missed its last three shots and turned it over. Blacksher missed a contested jumper and a 3 and McGlothan missed a 3.
Meanwhile, Wyoming couldn’t miss in the end with guard Hunter Maldonado taking over. He had 17 points on 6 of 11 shooting and seven rebounds and seven assists. Drake Jefferies’ 3 with 2:13 to play gave the Cowboys a 63-61 lead.
Maldonado’s driving basket as he was fouled with less than a minute to play gave Wyoming (4-0) a 65-61 lead.
“They made that big 3,” Drew said. “We got hit by a screen that gave them the open 3. That was pretty much the play of the game. Unfortunately, the last two minutes we just ran out of shots going in.”
A game after making a school-record 17 3-pointers, Grand Canyon made only 8 of 35 shots in the first half when it was 2 of 13 from the 3-point line.
GCU attacked the glass much better in the second half, contesting Wyoming shots much better and driving to the basket.
“This is a great non-conference game,” Drew said. “Obviously, you want to win. It shows a lot of guys what they need to work on. It shows us who we can trust in tight games. It’s a learning process and we’ll continue to learn from this.”