GCU basketball wins WAC Tournament final, reaches 2nd NCAA Tournament

Grand Canyon University basketball is headed to the NCAA Tournament for the second time in school history and second time in three seasons.

The No. 5 seed Antelopes took down No. 3 seed Southern Utah in the WAC Tournament final on Saturday night, 84-66.

#WACVegas | Championship@GCU_MBB is going 𝓓𝓐𝓝𝓒𝓘𝓝𝓖! Lopes win 84-66 🕺 pic.twitter.com/MDKbn6tqDD

— The Western Athletic Conference (@WACsports) March 12, 2023

Grand Canyon (24-11) posted wins over three higher seeds en route to the title, beating No. 4 seed Seattle in the quarterfinals and top-seeded Sam Houston in the semifinals.

Ray Harrison dropped 31 points on 10-for-18 shooting (5-for-7 from deep) on Saturday and secured GCU’s Division 1 single-season scoring record.

𝟐𝟔 𝐏𝐎𝐈𝐍𝐓𝐒.
𝟖 𝐑𝐄𝐁𝐎𝐔𝐍𝐃𝐒.
𝟖 𝐀𝐒𝐒𝐈𝐒𝐓𝐒.

What more can be said about @bigtimeray0? pic.twitter.com/14W3ejXW9I

— Grand Canyon Men’s Basketball (@GCU_MBB) March 12, 2023

Yvan Ouedraogo’s jumper to take a 27-26 lead with six minutes left in the first half sparked an 19-3 run that featured four 3-pointers from Harrison.

Harrison scored 20 points in the first half, helping GCU jump out to a commanding 44-31 lead.

Southern Utah did not cut the deficit to single digits at any point in the second half.

Gabe McGlothan added 21 points on 12 shots, and Noah Baumann contributed 16 points, hitting a career-high five 3-pointers.

IS THIS REAL LIFE pic.twitter.com/mZGn6hmn2W

— Grand Canyon Men’s Basketball (@GCU_MBB) March 12, 2023

Grand Canyon shot 30-for-55 (54.5%) from the field and hit 13 of 20 from distance. Southern Utah hit 22 of 63 from the floor (34.9%).

The Associated Press contributed to this report.

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