ST. GEORGE — Following back-to-back physically and emotionally draining victories, the Southern Utah University men’s basketball team just didn’t seem to have anything left in the tank.
The Thunderbirds’ Hercules Tires Western Athletic Conference tournament run ended one game short of a championship as No. 3 SUU battled but couldn’t overcome Grand Canyon University’s stingy defense, the Lopes winning the conference title 84-66 Saturday night at Orleans Arena in Las Vegas, Nevada.
No. 5 Grand Canyon earned a trip to the men’s NCAA tournament and will find out Sunday night where they fall in the bracket of the 68-team field.
The loss ended SUU’s storied season, highlighted by a come-from-behind 89-88 semifinal win over Utah Valley University Friday night, the winning 4-point play coming from Tevian Jones.
Grand Canyon (24-11 overall) reached the championship matchup by way of a 78-75 win over top-rated Sam Houston State, and Saturday night seemed to belong to the Lopes, who got on the board first via an Yvan Ouedraogo layup. The Thunderbirds (22-12 overall) missed their first four shots, but Harrison Butler finally put them on the board with a pair of free throws.
Jones, Friday night’s hero in the dramatic win over Utah Valley, drilled a 3-ball and a 15-footer early on. Grand Canyon was able to penetrate the Thunderbirds’ man-to-man defensive set for a couple of easy buckets, but a three-second violation gave the ball back to SUU, which led 9-7 at the first media timeout.
Gabe McGlothan, who scored 21 points, had the hot hand for Grand Canyon over the next few minutes, hitting a pair of 15-footers, and Ray Harrison added a deuce to make it 13-13. But once again, Jones beat the Lopes’ 2-3 zone and drilled a step-back trey for an SUU 16-13 edge at the 13:31 mark.
Grand Canyon’s zone then seemed to fluster the Thunderbirds over the next few minutes, during which McGlothan, Ray Harrison and Noah Baumann combined for six points, SUU missed four straight shots and GCU took the 19-18 lead at the 10:07 media timeout. The Thunderbirds’ cold streak continued as GCU switched to man-to-man defense, forcing two more missed shots and a turnover.
The Lopes were able to get the ball down low on offense, resulting in made free throws by Harrison and Kobe Knox to go up 22-18. And following another SUU missed shot, Baumann hit nothing but net from three range and was fouled on the play. Baumann missed the free throw, and Cam Healey broke the Thunderbirds’ scoreless spell to make it 25-21 at the 7-3- mark.
Jason Spurgin swatted away a shot on the Lopes’ ensuing possession, and Healy found his range again from downtown, closing the gap to 25-24. Following a Grand Canyon timeout, the Lopes missed a short jumper and Butler went coast to coast to put the T-birds up 26-25. But this would be SUU’s last lead of the game.
Ouedraogo hit a hook shot, Harrison, who led all scorers with 31 points, answered with a trey and Baumann added one of his own plus a free throw, and GCU suddenly held a 34-26 edge with 3:34 left in the half. Harrison wasn’t done either — he hit three consecutive treys, while Healy added his third, and it was 42-30 with 2:02 on the clock.
Josh Baker’s free throws increased the edge, but Drake Allen added a single charity, and the half ended with Grand Canyon up 44-31.
The Lopes shot 58% (15 of 26) and the Thunderbirds 30% (9 of 30) on two-pointers, and Grand Canyon also enjoyed a 24-13 rebounding edge in the first 20 minutes.
McGlothan opened the second-half scoring with a 3-pointer and backdoor cut before Jones’ putback dunk ended a 2-minute second-half drought.
Coach Todd Simon then went to a full-court press, and Butler made a steal but missed a 3-pointer. Spurgin swatted away Ouedraogo’s short jumper, Butler scooped it up and he found Maizen Fausett underneath, making the tally 49-37 at the 16:30 mark.
But McGlothan again was able to work his way down low for an easy bucket and then drilled a 3-ball for a 56-41 advantage. Jones countered with his own triple, but again, McGlothan answered, only this time it was with an assist to Chance McMillan,who swooshed a trey from the corner for a 59-44 advantage with 14.22 to play.
Maizen hit a reverse layup to keep the Thunderbirds in it, and on the ensuing possession, SUU seemed to have Harrison boxed in under the basket, but he wheeled a baseline pass to Bauman, who hit another 3-pointer, upping the edge to 62-46.
The Lopes’ three-prong approach of tight defense, 3-point shooting and backdoor cuts enabled them to prevent SUU from mounting any serious threat after a Butler 3-ball made it 73-59 with 6:58 remaining.
While Grand Canyon shot 65% (13 of 20) on 3-pointers, Southern Utah shot 35% (8 of 23). And on standard field goals, the Lopes fired at a 55% rate (30 of 55), while the Thunderbirds were 35% (22 of 63).
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