Grand Canyon men's basketball loses 30-point lead, but holds off SWAC champion Alcorn State

Grand Canyon's first 13 minutes were a work of art, hustle and perfection. The Antelopes were draining 3s. They were grabbing rebounds, loose balls and defending. They built a 30-point lead.

Then, Alcorn State showed why it is the defending Southwestern Athletic Conference champions, coming all the way back to tie the game at 63 with 7:38 to play.

But GCU never let the Braves take the lead, and with point guard Jovan Blacksher Jr., hobbling off the court with about four minutes to play, it held on for an 80-72 basketball victory Tuesday night before 6,731 fans at GCU Arena.

"That's a really good team," coach Bryce Drew said. "They already won at Wichita State. They won at Stephen F. Austen. I think at ASU it was a four-point game with eight minutes left, and ASU went on a big run. But that's a conference championship team."

GCU, playing its third conference championship team to start this season, improve to 6-2 overall.

Standout performers

During those first 13 minutes, when GCU built a 38-8 lead, Noah Baumann, one of the most efficient 3-point shooters in the nation, made his first four 3-pointers and had 14 points in the first half, tying with Blacksher Jr., for team-high scoring.

Blacksher made all seven of his field goals and led the Lopes with 21 points. His injury status was not known immediately following the game. But Blacksher was standing during the final two minutes when GCU made big plays to hold off the Braves.

Ray Harrison started the game on fire and ended on fire and finished with 18 points and four assists.

Alcorn State guard Byron Joshua, who came into the game shooting 19% from the 3-point arc, made 5 of 5 3-pointers. He had a game-high 30 points. Jeremiah Kendall had 14 points and eight rebounds for the Braves.

Key plays

GCU went inside to big man Yvan Ouedraogo after the Braves tied the score, and Ouedraogo was fouled on two entry passes into him as he was going to the basket. He made all four of his free throws to give GCU a 67-63 lead.

Harrison knocked down a 3, made two free throws, drove the baseline for a two-handed dunk and scored on a length-of-the-court pass from Gabe McGlothan out of a time-out down the stretch.

After McGlothan scored on a drive with 3:32 to play for a nine-point Lopes lead, Harrison drove the baseline for the dunk and a 76-65 lead with less than three minutes to play.

His easy basket on the long heave pass from McGlothan gave GCU a 78-69 lead with 58 seconds left.

Key quotes

"I've been in those situations before," Harrison said. "Just having that experience allowed me to kind of just embrace the moment.

"They beat a team that beat us (Wichita State). I knew they had some resiliency and they were going to give us a punch. We had to take that and keep it rolling."

"The first 13 minutes, we absolutely loved it," Drew said. "We moved the ball. We made shots. It was really fun to watch the first 13 minutes.

"You know, we missed the same type of shots we were making. And they started making shots. Give them credit for not folding and for fighting back all the way back to tie it."

Up next

GCU travels to Wyoming to play the Cowboys (3-3) on Saturday afternoon at 2.

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