2nd half 3-point barrage propels Grand Canyon to rout over Utah Valley

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OREM — Grand Canyon had a difficult time finding the bottom of the basket from deep in the first half Saturday afternoon.

Then the switch flipped — and so did the game.

Powered by their red-hot shooting, the Western Athletic Conference leaders turned that into a 54-point second half in an 86-67 rout of Utah Valley (9-13, 4-7 WAC) in front of 2,381 fans Saturday afternoon at the UCCU Center.

"It gave them some juice when they started to hit those 3s," Wolverines coach Todd Phillips said. "That's a really good basketball club."

The Wolverines got to within 4 points, 48-44, early in the second half, but back-to-back 3-pointers by Grand Canyon's Gabe McGlothan pushed the lead to 10, and Utah Valley could get no closer to suffer their third straight defeat.

McGlothan finished with 17 points to go with 11 rebounds.

The Lopes (21-2, 11-1 WAC), now winners of four straight following their first WAC loss at Seattle U. on Jan. 20, were also deadly in transition. Grand Canyon had 23 fast-break points to Utah Valley's 7, most of them — like the 3-point shooting — coming in the second half.

"When we can get out in transition, it really helps us," Grand Canyon coach Bryce Drew said.

One player who really benefitted was Oregon transfer wing Lok Wur. The former four-star recruit sparked Grand Canyon with 13 points off the bench, and was a terrorizing force on the defensive end with his length.

"He's played his best basketball in the last couple of weeks," Drew said. "It's almost like when you start making your shots, it gets contagious."

Missing shots, however, certainly was contagious in the first half.

Both teams struggled to find a consistent rhythm on offense as the Wolverines shot 31% to the Lopes' 35%. Turnovers proved to be the difference as Utah Valley turned it over nine times to just two for Grand Canyon, with the Lopes using that advantage to build a 32-23 halftime lead.

Free throws also proved big, as well, as Utah Valley went just 2-of-6 from the charity stripe in the first half.

"When you get fouled, you've got to finish it at the free-throw line," Phillips said. "We've struggled the last two games at the line, and it hurt us again."

Both teams were also nearly hurt by foul trouble. Back-to-back flagrant fouls on McGlothan and Utah Valley's Nate Tshimanga raised already high emotions to a boiling point, roiling the faithful at the UCCU Center, including the few hundred Grand Canyon fans who either made the short trip from Arizona or were alumni living in Utah.

Once the back-to-back 3-pointers went in for McGlothan, however, it was like nothing happened.

Phillips pointed to the extended 23-8 run the Lopes made to push the lead as high as 20 with under seven minutes left, propelled by Grand Canyon's suddenly scorching 3-point barrage, as the turning point in the game.

"I thought we could have handled that a little better," he said. "That's a trying thing we have to go through."

One area Phillips can highlight is the hustle of his young team. The Wolverines outmuscled the longer Lopes for 13 offensive boards compared to eight, and also blocked 10 Grand Canyon shots; the Lopes are 14th in the country at 5.4 blocks per game.

"We've got to make adjustments on the fly, and that's on all of us," he said. "Hopefully, they'll continue to learn and grow using this experience to know they can compete on the boards with anyone."

Another silver lining is that Utah Valley will not have to travel on the road again for at least the next week. Their attention now shifts to Thursday when the Wolverines host second place Tarleton State, who will be coming off a single-game bye week following their exhausting overtime win over Abilene Christian.

Ironically, Abilene will also be in Orem next Saturday following the date with the Texans.

Phillips said his young team will eventually find a way to get over the hump and start winning consistently.

"A lot of these games this year, we were right there," he said. "We'll come in on Monday and figure out what we need to do going forward to break through."