GCU Finishes 2010 With Win Over Southwestern, 93-66

Grand Canyon won its third straight game and reached the .500 mark with a 93-66 victory over Southwestern College at Antelope Gymnasium Thursday.

GCU (5-5) jumped out to a 15-2 lead and led by as much as 29 points.

“That was the focal point of the game,” said GCU coach Russ Pennell, of his club’s plan of not wanting the undersized Eagles to get any early-game confidence. “They play extremely hard and coach Rick Roth does an incredible job with them. They’re good shooters and we couldn’t let them get going and I thought our mindset was good to start the game.

“That 15-2 run was fantastic and it didn’t give them a lot of hope and that was a key to the game.”

GCU sophomore guard Brad Carroll (Chandler, Ariz., Corona del Sol, Milwaukee) scored 22 points, two off his career high. He hit his first eight shots and finished the game 8-of-9 from the field and 4-of-5 from 3-point range.

“It definitely felt good,” said Carroll, of his hot-shooting night. “It’s always good to get that first one to go. I had the hot night tonight. Nick Witherill (Phoenix, Ariz., Highland, Washington State) had it last game and I’m sure someone else will have it the next game.”

Steven Morin (Scottsdale, Ariz., Saguaro) added 12 and Justin Wesolowski (Mesa, Ariz., Mountain View, Northern Colorado) had 10, a game-high seven rebounds and two steals.

The ‘Lopes shot 58.5 percent for the game and committed only eight turnovers. GCU hit 59.4 percent in the first half and outrebounded the Eagles 25-15 to take a 43-27 halftime lead. Southwestern shot only 29.4 percent for the first 20 minutes.

Carroll was 5-of-5 in the first half and scored 13 points.

Gaby Ngoundjo (Douala, Cameroon, Little Rock Christian, Charlotte) added nine points and six rebounds. Rony Tchatchoua (Douala, Cameroon, Little Rock Christian, New Hampshire) had seven points and six boards. Fletcher Wynn (Orlando, Fla., Apopka, Louisburg College) had six points, a game-high six assists and two steals. Barret Robbins (Phoenix, Ariz., Desert Vista, Chandler-Gilbert CC) added eight points.

All 12 players that played scored. Ten different players had rebounds and nine had assists.

“It’s good to get everyone’s confidence up,” said Wesolowski. “We’re going to need all of us in the conference games. We play a lot of back-to-back games and we’ll need a lot of fresh bodies.”