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Grand Canyon Dominates Longwood with an 86-56 Blow Out Win

By
Ashley Nevel
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Grand Canyon Dominates Longwood with an 86-56 blow out win before hitting the road for a long road trip.

It was Ugly Christmas Sweater Night at the GCU Arena but the game was everything but ugly for the Lopes. They got off to a hot start and never looked back. Josh Braun, Alessandro Lever and Oscar Frayer scored the first 9 points.

“I thought our guys came out really focused,” coach Dan Majerle said. “Played really well. Opening minutes, shot the ball really well. Bench came in, Fiifi a lot of energy. Matt (Jackson), everybody. Just a good win.”

Oscar Frayer returned to the starting lineup while Fiifi Aidoo came off the bench and did exactly what Majerle wanted him to do, give a spark to the second unit and get more scoring opportunities. He led all scorers with 14 points on 6-of-8 shooting.

“I was just talking about it with coach Majerle like two days ago and he said if I come off the bench I need to bring the energy,” Aidoo said. “I think it’s important (to maintain energy) always when people come off the bench just to keep the momentum going.”

Aidoo hit a three-pointer that gave the Lopes a 17-3 lead, which sparked the team to go on a 32-2 run early with contributions from Matt Jackson who had 10 points and Gerard Martin who had 7 points on 2-of-5 shooting.

As long as the Lopes win, Aidoo doesn’t mind coming off the bench.

“I really don’t care,” Aidoo said. “We just got to win.”

GCU struggled finding its shot for nearly 6 minutes towards the end of the first half, but still went into halftime with a large lead, 44-20.

The Lopes opened the second half with 3 triples. Frayer set the tone for the second half with his intensity, a lethal three-point shot and a put back dunk.

“Oscar in the second half got it going,” Majerle said. “So athletic. Flies around and that’s when he’s really good when he crashes the boards and just uses his athleticism, makes his three-point shots easier.”

The Lopes bench outscored the Lancers bench 50-to-7 and the team out rebounded them 42-to-26. The Lopes have blown out 3 of their 5 last opponents by at least 30 points.

“We got guys that can go in and play 4 or 5 minute stretches, really hard defensively and that’s what we try to key on,” Majerle said. “Get out there and let our defense get our offense going and pick up our energy.”

The Lopes plan to carry that momentum with them on the road as they catch the red-eye flight to Louisville to take on the Cardinal for a rematch of last year. They play an early one this Saturday at 11:00 AM MST. Be sure to tune in to the Fanatic 1580 AM/99.3 FM/95.9FM with Michael Potter and Tom Kuyper on the call.

They will then head to Vegas to face Morgan State and then Illinois and Seattle.

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