Grand Canyon unable to hold late lead in loss to Loyola Marymount

Grand Canyon can't wait to get point guard Jovan Blacksher Jr., back in the lineup.

He missed his second straight game with an ankle injury, but this time he was really needed.

Unable to make shots down the stretch, GCU lost to Loyola Marymount 69-65 Wednesday night in a non-conference basketball game before a crowd of 7,011 at GCU Arena.

LMU (8-3) snapped an eight-game home winning streak by GCU.

GCU (7-3) battled back from a 12-point deficit in the final 10 minutes and led 61-58 on guard Ray Harrison's driving jumper with 4:50 to play. But that would be the last field goal the Antelopes would score.

On the other end, they couldn't stop bullish forward Keli Leaupepe, who drained a 3 on a nice feed from guard Cam Shelton and worked his way in low for three more baskets and a 67-63 lead with 2:10 to play.

Key players

Of course, it was Leaupepe, who had his way inside whenever LMU needed a tough basket. He finished with 17 points on 8 of 13 shooting.

But the biggest problem GCU had was containing guard Cam Shelton, who had 26 points on 10 of 17 shooting, including 4 of 6 from 3-point range.

For GCU, it was McGlothan and Harrison, who combined for 32 points. McGlothan had 14 points, including a three-point play that cut the deficit to 56-55 with 6:56 to play.

Key plays

After getting down 56-44, Josh Baker (10 points) scored, followed by a three-point play by Harrison, who then connected on a 3 to get to within 56-52 with 8:42 to play.

McGlothan's three-point play was followed by his tip-in that was good on a goal-tend call that gave GCU a 57-56 lead with 6:04 left.

That's when Leaupepe became a one-man wrecking crew for LMU. He scored 11 of LMU's final 13 points in the last 5:27.

Harrison missed the front end of a one-and-one with 3:33 to play that could have tied the score. But GCU got the ball back on Harrion's miss and Baker missed a 3.

Leaupepe then extended the lead to 65-61 with a layup with 2:52 left.

Key quotes

"That's on me," McGlothan said about Leaupepe taking over down the stretch. "I needed to push him out on the block a little bit more. He was getting easy catches."

"I thought the key stretch was, we built that three-point lead -- I'll have to watch the flim -- but we had a total mental breakdown," coach Bryce Drew said. "We guard a man and let him walk in and get a dunk. And then we missed a front end, and then they made a basket, and we had a wide-open 3. We couldn't have had a better shot.

"We got shots. We got free throws. They just didn't go in. If you get open shots and you take them, you have to be happy with that as a coach. Unfortunately, they went down and score seven in a row, the same guy really hurt us."

Up next

GCU plays reigning Conference USA champion North Texas (7-2), one of the best defensive teams GCU will see this season, on Saturday at 3:30 p.m., at Footprint Center in the Jerry Colangelo Classic. Drew said he will have to make a decison later this week whether to play Preseason WAC Player of the Year Blacksher on Saturday or shut him down for another week.

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