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PHOENIX — Joshua Braun has played in all of six games for the Grand Canyon Antelopes as he battled through an injury. It was even questionable that he would suit up and play against Utah Valley in the Western Athletic Conference opener for both teams on Saturday night at Grand Canyon Arena.
No worries. The redshirt junior scored a game-high 31 points and hit seven 3-pointers to help the Lopes knock off the Wolverines 82-72 in his first game since Nov. 28. It was the third straight game against UVU that Braun has scored 30-plus points.
“We couldn’t manage Josh Braun tonight,” UVU head coach Mark Pope said. “He was really, really good. We spent more time on him than anyone else prepping, and you’re thinking come back a little rusty, but he didn’t. He came back great.”
After UVU went ahead 22-19 following a 13-2 run in the middle of the first half, Braun decided to take over. Braun scored 15 of the final 19 points to give the Lopes a 38-35 lead at halftime.
Despite the effort from Braun, UVU was able to hang around. Kenneth Ogbe scored 13 of his team-high 20 points in the first half and matched Braun shot-for-shot at one point. Ogbe also had a huge dunk in traffic that gave UVU a 24-22 lead with 5:55 to play in the first half. Brandon Randolph did his part to keep UVU in the game as well by scoring 10 of his 18 points in the first frame. Randolph finished with a double-double as he brought down 10 rebounds too.
“Really happy with Kenneth,” Pope said. “He’s got so much more in the tank. He is getting to the rim and kind of gets to the rim at will … he’s still continuing to grow. He’s never really got this far into a season before. He’s gaining confidence in his body, and as this season progresses he’s going to be a force to be reckoned with.”
However, after an Isaac Neilson dunk with 15:57 to play that cut the halftime deficit to two, GCU went on a 13-0 run to break the game wide open. DeWayne Russell scored eight straight points during the run and GCU led 53-41 with 13:42 to play.
“For five minutes in the second half, we were feeling OK,” Pope said. “Then it slipped in that second five-minute segment and we just couldn’t manage Braun tonight.”
Neilson also finished with a double-double as he scored 14 points and pulled down 16 rebounds.
Braun was joined in double figures by Russell and Kerwin Smith. Russell recorded a double-double with 19 points and 11 assists while Kerwin Smith finished with 12 points
GCU improves to 10-6 overall and 1-0 in WAC play while UVU drops to 8-8 and 0-1 in conference play. The Wolverines return home to the UCCU Center in Orem for a Thursday matchup against Chicago State. For just the second time this season, UVU will play back-to-back games at home as it hosts Missouri-Kansas City on Saturday night as well.
“It will be good for us to go home,” Pope said. “We have tough games. We have two tough games at home. It’s really fun to be in conference. That’s what I’m excited about is that we’re in conference. I love playing in league games. There’s an added intensity to them, and they’re special.”
Kyle McDonald is sports fan who loves the Chicago Cubs and the Utah Valley University Wolverines. He is a communication major at UVU and will graduate in the spring of 2017. Follow him on Twitter at @kylesportsbias
