GCU wins the 3rd consecutive WAC title, trip to the big dance

Las Vegas – Just when he seemed to be moving away, the Grand Canyon season was saved by the guy that the Lopes beat in the WAC championship match last year.

Goalkeeper Makaih Williams, who played Ut Arlington last year, made a big defensive game to return the ball to the Lopes, then nailed a 3 -point to give them an eight -point lead with 8:18 on the left.

A few minutes later, he made another flight. Then, the veterans, the guys with March Madness Experience, who led the Lopes to a third consecutive title of the WAC tournament and to the NCAA tournament with an 89-82 victory against Utah Valley with a serial before a noisy crowd of 3,780 at Orleans Arena late Saturday evening.

“His speed really helped,” said coach Bryce Drew. “They were trying to pick up Ray (Harrison) short and try to wear it. We needed someone to come and manage the ball. We had Jakobe (Coles) in big troubles. Tyon (Grant-Foster) was in trouble.

It will be GCU’s fourth trip to dance in five years under Drew, who thanked the three veterans next to him in the post-match media hall. It was the MVP of the Coles tournament, the MVP Grant-Foster of the WAC 2024 tournament and the MVP of the tournament in 2023 Ray Harrison.

They all took Big into account this week, especially on Saturday.

“(Harrison) appeared at this tournament three consecutive years, and was incredible, making a clutch game after the clutch game,” said Drew. “I couldn’t be happier for him. He fell across the country in Phoenix. I knew nothing about us. He was faithful, which is difficult to find.

When the Lopes dropped by 19-10, Harrison showed this great game experience, hitting three difficult shots in a 13-4 race that equaled the scoring at 23.

Lok Wur gave the Lopes an advance of 29-26 with successive 3, and the Lopes never let the Wolverines lead again. During the last 3 1/2 minutes of half-time, UTA has only scored one point, while GCU’s defense, with Coles on the bench with three faults, disputed everything.

“It’s just aggressive,” said Harrison, who led six two -digit players with 18 points. “When I’m aggressive, it’s not just good for me but also my teammates. I know that the coach trusted me with the ball in the section.”

Harrison even launched one for a dunk, dividing the defenders, which impressed Coles, who had 13 points in 19 minutes.

“I said to this guy (Friday) evening, when we were talking:” You can Dunk, you have to go “,” said Coles. “He did it for me today.”

The Lopes are now 11-1 in the WAC tournament matches under coach Bryce Drew.

With Stars Coles and Grant-Foster in addition to problems, the Lopes turned to others, such as Williams (12 points, two assists, two interceptions, a block), Wur (12 points, making 3 out of 5 points) and the Duke of the Brennan Center (16 points, 10 rebounds), to maintain it.

Their tenacity and their balance (eight reversals, seven interceptions, seven blocks) led to this grind-it-out championship.

They needed everyone to participate in Tanner Toolson with their best match for Utah Valley, making 6 out of 9 to 3 points and marking 28 points.

When Drew went with a range of four guards, moving Collin Moore to the four, the Lopes made the last four minutes of half-time work to build a 40-33 lead, limiting Wolverines to a single point in the last 3 h 40.

“Ray was really good in this section,” said Drew. “We made stops and made a few blows to the other end. I thought it was a big section before the locker room with Tyon and Jakobe in addition to problems.”

(This story has been updated to add a gallery.)

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