McGlothan, Knox spark Grand Canyon past San Diego Christian
Grand Canyon showed no ill affects less than 40 hours after a tough opening win against an NCAA Tournament team, blowing past an NAIA opponent on Wednesday night as it tries to fine-tune things for Saturday's first major road test at Nevada.
The Antelopes closed the first half on a 19-2 run, building a 43-21 lead, on their way to a 101-50 rout of NAIA San Diego Christian before a crowd of 6,891 at GCU Arena.
This was only the fifth time in GCU's NCAA Division I history that it hit the century mark in scoring, and the first time since January of 2021.
After erasing a 19-point deficit in the second half to beat Montana State 60-54 in Monday's season opener, the Antelopes shot 51.6% in the first half Wednesday. They held the Hawks (1-1) to 29.6% shooting in the half and only 1 of 8 3-pointers, while forcing 12 turnovers.
That continued in the second half, as the Lopes shot 61.1% from the field and all 12 players scored for the first time since Jan. 13 against Abilene Christian.
Standout performers
Forward Gabe McGlothan, a Chandler Basha High School graduate who played some center for the first time since leading Basha to a state championship, sparked that devastating first-half run and had a career-high for rebounds in an opening half with nine. He had 11 of his 13 points in the half and recorded his 10th career double-double.
Point guard Jovan Blacksher Jr., had 11 of his 16 points in the first half. He made six of eight shots in only 20 minutes of action.
Guard Chance McMillian sparked the Lopes in the first half with his quickness and ball movement and finished with nine points, three assists and a steal in 16 minutes.
Guard Kobe Knox, a redshirt freshman, earned extra time in his second college game after sparking the Lopes out of their slumber with a blocked shot in the first three minutes of the second half agaisnt Montana State. He scored the first 11 points of his college career Wednesday. Knox went through a six-week rehabiliation period in preseason with an injury.
UNLV transfer Josh Baker's 10 points off the bench tied his Division I career hight that he set last year against Omaha.
Guard Walter Ellis had 10 points and seven rebounds, one board short of his career high.
Key plays
On back-to-back possessions during GCU's 19-2 run, McGlothan rebounded and scored on put-backs. A little later he took a charging foul and closed the half with a 3-pointer.
Power forward Yvan Ouedraogo started GCU's big run with a basket inside on a feed from McMillian, then sank two free throws after getting fouled on a shot inside.
Knox made a corner 3, dunked on a breakaway and swatted Josh O'Campo's breakaway layup off the glass. He also had two steals.
Blacksher, who made the 3 with 23 seconds left to give GCU a six-point lead over Montana State, drained a 3-pointer that gave the Lopes a 9-6 lead in the first four minutes. San Diego Christian would never get even or take the lead after that.
Key quotes
"I was much more pleased with our effort throughout the game. I thought the first half they were scoring some but our effort was so much better than the first half of our last game. We finally made some shots there in the second half, which was nice to see. I think we're a good-shooting team, but we hadn't done it. So it was nice to see a stretch where we did make some shots."— Coach Bryce Drew.
"That's something that Coach Drew tells me to go in and play hard and bring my defensive intensity. That's something I pride myself in every game." — Knox.
"He'll come in and crash the glass. He'll surprise a lot of people at how athletic he is. He's definitely a huge piece that is going to be added to this team. Credit to all or our guys straight down the bench. Everybody has the ability to impact the game," — McGlothan on Knox and the rest of the team's performance.
Up next
Grand Canyon (2-0) travels to play Nevada on Saturday at 2 p.m. The Wolf Pack (1-0) opened their season Monday with an 84-71 win over Utah Tech, which plays in the Western Athletic Conference with the Antelopes.
To suggest human-interest story ideas and other news, reach Obert at richard.obert@arizonarepublic.com or 602-316-8827. Follow him on Twitter @azc_obert.
Support local journalism: Subscribe to azcentral.com today
This article originally appeared on Arizona Republic: McGlothan, Knox spark Grand Canyon past San Diego Christian
