Grand Canyon basketball blows out UT Rio Grande Valley in 2nd half, 15-0 at home

After a tight first half, during which Grand Canyon seemed bottled up and befuddled in UT Rio Grande Valley's zone, the Lopes took off to start the second half and rolled to a 72-43 basketball rout before a sellout crowd at Global Credit Union Arena on Thursday night.

GCU, leading 28-24 at the break, outscored the Vaqueros 44-19 during a second half, in which the Lopes shot 53% and made 5 of 12 3-pointers.

"I just feel like we picked up our defensive intensity a little bit more," said 6-foot-7 wing Tyon Grant-Foster, who had 21 points, making 7 of 12 shots and 7 of 8 free throws to go with six rebounds, four assists and three blocked shots. "Something clicked with us on the offense end with us moving the ball faster."

The Lopes missed three dunks in the game. But Collin Moore's dunk after a steal and Tyon Grant-Foster's monster dunk in the lane sparked the Lopes during a devastating second-half run that saw them bury UTRGV in the first 3-1/2 minutes of the second half, building a 46-26 lead.

Grant-Foster's dunk, leaping and grabbing a high inbounds pass under his basket from Ray Harrison with one hand and slamming it through, came with 10 minutes left that opened it up to 50-29. And it later landed No. 2 on ESPN's Sports Center's Top 10 plays of the day.

"C-Mo's dunk really got us going," Grant-Foster said. "Then my dunk. I felt like it really picked up the energy in there."

The Havocs erupted during a barrage of points, much tougher defense and rebounding, limiting the Vaqueros to only one shot each possession. After staying pretty much even on the glass with GCU in the first half, GCU outrebounded them 27-10 in the second half.

The Lopes (25-4, 15-3) can secure their first undefeated season at home since the 1991-92 season with a victory on Saturday night at 8 against Stephen F. Austin in a nationally televised ESPNU game. The Lopes improved to 15-0 at home.

They'll also have a chance Saturday to clinch the WAC regular-season title. With Thursday's win, they've clinched the No. 1 seed at the WAC Tournament in two weeks in Las Vegas based on the WAC Resume Seeding System, which gives teams a chance to earn points since non-conference play.

A combined 12 free throws shot

Last week, in two close losses by GCU in Texas that came down to the final minute, Tarleton State shot 40 free throws and Abilene Christian 36. GCU had a combined 35 fewer free throws in those games.

On Thursday, UTRG (6-22, 2-15), which has now lost 11 in a row, didn't attempt its first free throw until there was less than four minutes to play in the game. It went 2 for 3. GCU took only nine free throws, eight by Grant-Foster, who made seven of them.

Center Duke Brennan fouled out in both losses in Texas. Against UTRGV, he picked up one foul — on a technical — and made all five shots he took. He also grabbed seven rebounds in 27 minutes.

The zone limited the contact, which resulted in fewer fouls. But GCU needed time to figure out how to operate in UTRGV's zone, which it went into after the Lopes opened up a 12-point lead to start the game.

"When they went to the zone, it slowed us down a little bit," Brennan said. "Coming out in the second half, we knew they were going to stick to the zone. So coach drew up some good plays for us. We knew to push it and transition fast.

"Shots weren't falling the first half. They started falling in the second half."

Ray Harrison battles foul trouble to give Lopes a lift

Ray Harrison sat out the final seven minutes of the first half after picking up his third foul. At the time, the Lopes led 23-22. He started the second half and hit a 3-pointer and scored on another jump shot, and the Lopes got off to a 9-0 run to take a 37-24 lead.

Harrison hit all three shots he took in the game, but he had four assists, a steal and a block and only one turnover.

With McGlothan struggling to find his usual offensive rhythm — he had four points making only 2 of 9 shots — others picked him up. Lok Wur had 10 points off the bench, making two 3-pointers. Moore made two 3-pointers and had three steals.

"I thought we had really good shot, we just missed them," coach Bryce Drew said about battling through the zone. "They did a good job of running a lot of clock and shooting under seven seconds to go.

"The big thing was locking in on defense, trying to get consecutive shots, trying to get some separation so they weren't so comfortable running their offense."

Last home game for seniors

Saturday will be an emotional night for the Lopes with McGlothan, point guard Jovan Blacksher Jr., and Josh Baker — all local guys — playing their final home game of their college careers.

Blacksher Jr., and McGlothan have been together the past five years.

"What they've done, what they've achieved, it gets emotional," Drew said. "We've got to focus on winning the game, and celebrate the seniors after."

Grant-Foster, who will have another year to play after this season, said he'll do everything in his power to make sure those seniors finish out on a high note.

"It's a happy ending, but at the same time it's sad," Grant-Foster said. "We get to look at all of their accomplishments that they did. And at the same time it's the end of a chapter but the beginning of the chapter for the next part of their lives.

"Me, I love those guys. I'm going to do my best to take them as far as I can."

To suggest human-interest story ideas and other news, reach Obert atrichard.obert@arizonarepublic.com or 602-316-8827. Follow him on X, formerly Twitter:@azc_obert

This article originally appeared on Arizona Republic: GCU basketball improves to 15-0 at home with rout of UTRGV