PHOENIX – Tarleton State Men's Basketball was unable to find a groove in the raucous GCU Arena environment, ultimately resulting in an 88-64 loss at Grand Canyon on Saturday night.
Five Texans (8-12, 3-2) scored in double figures in their second road loss in conference play. It marks the first time in WAC play and the second time this season. The Lopes (13-5, 3-1) improve to 3-0 at home in the league.
Dantwan Grimes became the seventh to lead the team in scoring tallying 13. He also led the way on the glass with five boards. The junior led the way in steals as well swiping four. He made both of his attempts from the free throw line, extending his perfect conference made free throw streak to 19-for-19.
Izzy Miles scored in double figures for the third time in WAC play, adding 12.
Bubu Benjamin cracked double digits for the first time in league play with 11.
Keitenn Bristow and
Chris Mpaka contributed 10 points apiece.
Freddy Hicks scored eight in his second game back from injury.
Five Lopes notched double digits in the box score, with the reigning WAC Player of the Year, Tyon-Grant Foster leading with 17.
The Lopes controlled the majority of the first half. GCU started the game with a pair of triples and a bucket to take an 8-0 lead in the first 1:56 of the contest.
Bubu Benjamin downed a layup to get the Texans on the board.
GCU ballooned their first half lead to as many as 22, when they led 36-14 with 5:01 to go. But then it was the Texans to get hot. Trailing 37-16, the Texans brought the game within 11 with a 10-0 run.
Izzy Miles drained a pair of freebies to start the rally. On the next possession, Grimes buried his first triple of the night.
Chris Mpaka got in on the action with a loud dunk off a pass from Benjamin.
Freddy Hicks capped the 10-point spurt with his first triple of the season to bring the Texan deficit down to 37-26 with 1:44 to go.
Grand Canyon went into the half up 12, 40-28. Mpaka led the way for the Texan with 10 points in the half. Tarleton shot 36.4 percent from the floor, but 42.9 percent from deep. Tarleton force seven GCU turnovers while committing 10.
The Lopes picked up where they left over to start the second half. Tarleton made the first bucket of the half with a layup by Grimes to cut their deficit to 10, the smallest it got in the second session. GCU used an 11-2 run to break out to a 19-point advantage, 51-32. The Lopes took a 21-point lead with 12:56 left, 57-36.
The final 13 minutes wasn't any nicer to the Texans with the Stephenville crew. Trailing by 28, back-to-back buckets by Bristow and Miles and a pair of free throws by Grimes fueled a mini 6-0 Texan run. Tarleton cut it to 22, 72-50 with 7:12 to go.
In the final minutes of the game the lead never dropped below 20 for the home team. Bristow had four points in the minute and a half to become the fifth Texan to reaching double figures. Ultimately, GCU took their fourth victory in Phoenix over Tarleton State, 88-64.
Tarleton ended the night shooting 41 percent, 22-for-54 from the floor. GCU made just one more shot while taking seven less attempts to shot at a 49 percent clip, 23-of-47. The Lopes made 33 free throws, the most the Texans have allowed this season and all-time in WAC play. After committing 10 turnovers in the first half, Tarleton State committed just two in the second half to tie GCU at the end of the night at 12.
Tarleton State will earn its first of three bye days, with just a single contest next week. The Texans will travel to Abilene Christian on Thursday for tip scheduled at 7 p.m. on ESPN+. The Purple and White will have its first of two Saturdays off during WAC play on Jan. 25.
