SEATTLE, WA – With the number one team in the conference in town, the Redhawks were able to get a win on Friday but couldn’t complete the sweep just 24-hours later. Both teams exchanged great defensive efforts to force the even split.
GAME 1: GCU 57 – SU 63
The Lopes had the slim lead heading into the halftime break, but the Redhawks stringed together a hot shooting performance to open up the second. Freshman Kobe Williamson hit all three of his 3’s after the break and ended the night with 14-points as he was a big spark for SU.
GCU was helped out buy a 20-point half by Alessandro Lever, who couldn’t miss from deep. However, only one other Lope was in double figures and Grand Canyon was smothered by the Redhawks defensive effort.
What stood out was the fact that Seattle did not shoot the ball particularly well in the game, ending the night going 20-56 for 35 percent. They did get to the free throw line though, knocking down 17 of their 25 attempts from the charity stripe. That was what eventually put the game away as SU secured the 6-point win.
GAME 2: GCU 81 – SU 71
Saturday’s game was a rough opening 15 minutes. Both teams couldn’t knock down shots and that led to a game that didn’t have much of a rhythm. Unlike last night, the Lopes eventually found their groove in this one and started to hit some shots.
On Friday, Lever did not have much help when it came to scoring. On this night though, four players reached double digits as Jovan Blacksher led the way with 17. GCU shot nearly 50 percent from the field and 40 percent from deep. This helped them extend the lead to as high as 17-points in the 2nd half.
Then the Redhawks made a run.
Following an and-1 by Riley Grigsby, Grand Canyon’s Asbjorn Midtgaard slammed the ball down which got him a technical. Darrion Trammell made both technical free throws and Grigsby hit his plus one shot. This led to a five point possession for SU that climbed them right into a competitive game. Grigsby and Trammell would help get the lead down to only five, but the run proved to be a little too late as GCU held on for the win.
Russell is the Content Director for the Eli Network. He studied broadcast journalism at Eastern Oregon and North Dakota State University. Mostly covers soccer and basketball in the Seattle area and is the current play-by-play voice for Seattle Redhawks basketball. You can follow him @brussbrwn.
