Grand Canyon overwhelms Southern Utah in WAC Tournament final

LAS VEGAS — With a chance to break a 20-plus year drought of NCAA Tournament bids, Southern Utah's magic ran out late Friday night in front of a packed house in the desert.

Less than 24 hours after Tevian Jones' miraculous 4-point play capped off a 23-comeback win over in-state rival Utah Valley, there was no such strike for the upstart Thunderbirds in their first season in the Western Athletic Conference, and their first conference tournament title game since winning the 2001 Mid-Continent championship.

SUU trailed by as much as 18 in the second half — a stone's throw behind the 23-point deficit the Thunderbirds overcame a night earlier — but barely got within single digits in the second half in front of a raucous Orleans Arena crowd filled roughly two-thirds by purple-clad Lopes fans.

Ray Harrison had 31 points, eight rebounds and eight assists, and Gabe McGlothan scored 21 as Grand Canyon overwhelmed the Thunderbirds 84-66 to claim their second NCAA Tournament berth in program history.

Noah Baumann had 16 points and seven rebounds for the Lopes (24-11).

Fatigue wasn't a factor in this one, though, at least if you ask Jones, who led Southern Utah (22-10) with 17 points and three rebounds.

"There was no fatigue," he quipped shortly after the game.

Added SUU coach Todd Simon: "I think our momentum was carrying through, but sometimes when there's a lid on that thing, you kind of wonder if that is the thing. But I don't think these guys ever think like that."

Maizen Fausett added 12 points and seven boards. Harrison Butler added 11 points, eight rebounds and four assists for the Thunderbirds.

Grit. Heart. Intensity. The Thunderbirds had plenty of it on Saturday night but fell victim to their Achilles' heel once again: guarding the 3-point line.

Southern Utah battled through the first half, either through Jones from the 3-point line early or Cam Healy answering a 12-2 run with a quick 6-0 spurt of his own to stay within striking distance.

But Harrison and Baumann paced a 19-4 run late in the half, and the Lopes shot 58% from the field while doing most of their scoring with Butler having to sit on the bench with foul trouble en route to a 44-31 lead at the break. And the Lopes never looked back.

"That's usually when we've had some lapses, when guys get in foul trouble or we lose a little bit of that edge," Simon said. "I think in that stretch in the end of the half, we lost that edge. They saw the ball go through the net a few times, a couple 50-50 balls didn't go our way. That's when the momentum swung."

Utah Tech's Cam Gooden had a career-high 35 points against SUU in the first round of the WAC Tournament. Then came UVU's Trey Woodbury and the 29 points he scored in that come-from-ahead loss. On Saturday night, it was Harrison's turn.

The sophomore Presbyterian transfer shot 4-of-6 from 3-point range in the first half to finish 5-of-7 from deep, 10-of-18 overall and 6-of-9 from the free-throw line. Harrison scored from deep, off the bounce, late in the shot lock — just about any time the Lopes needed a bucket, he got it.

"He thought he was Damian Lillard in the All-Star Game," Grand Canyon coach Bryce Drew joked.

After initially struggling to make shots to start the season — by Drew's own admission — the Lopes finished with a flurry and drained 39 3-pointers in three days at the WAC Tournament, including 13 on Saturday night, while outrebounding the Thunderbirds 41-30.

"When the first one went down, I started feeling pretty good," said Harrison, who was named the most outstanding player of the tournament. "Then I saw another one go in, and I felt pretty good. The hoop got bigger and bigger."

Dee Barnes had 8 points on 3-of-6 shooting off the bench for Southern Utah, who finished shooting just 35% from the field.

"Right now, this kind of just hurts right now," Fausett said. "But we had a lot of good games and built a brotherhood. We're best friends on and off the court, and I think that's the biggest thing.

"It's hard to look over this one right now."

Tournament Most Outstanding Player

• Ray Harrison, Grand Canyon

All-Tournament Team

• Ray Harrison, Grand Canyon
• Gabe McGlothan, Grand Canyon
• Harrison Butler, Southern Utah
• Tevian Jones, Southern Utah
• Trey Woodbury, Utah Valley

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