‘Cats blow halftime lead, lose to WAC favorite Grand Canyon in season opener

PHOENIX – Montana State squandered a 19-point lead as Grand Canyon rallied for a 60-54 win in a game pitting pre-season league favorites from the Big Sky and Western Athletic conferences Monday night here in the Valley of the Sun.

GCU got a game-high 18 points from star point guard RJ Blackshear in the season-opener for both teams. Blackshear hit a 3-pointer with 23.4 to play putting the Antelopes up 58-52. MSU got a three off but missed and Sam Lecholat got the rebound and made two free throws only to see GCU seal the win at the free throw line with Blackshear hitting a pair as the Bobcats were forced to foul late.

“I thought they were the aggressors in the second half, we were the aggressors in the first,” said MSU fourth-year head coach Danny Sprinkle, last season’s Big Sky Conference Coach of the Year. “It came down to we couldn’t stop any of their runs because, I wouldn’t say we missed wide-open shots, but we got some really good looks that could’ve stymied their runs.”

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The Grand Canyon fans lived up to their hype as one of the loudest and rowdiest fan bases nationally in college basketball as they seemed to will their team back into the game.  The Antelope’s student section was packed with approximately 3,000 energetic students and they didn’t let up all night. The official attendance was 7,171 fans.

“They weren’t like that the last time we were here,” Sprinkle said. “It’s great. This is what college basketball should be like.”

MSU (0-1) looked like they would cruise to a win and hand GCU coach Bryce Drew to only his sixth loss at home, but the Bobcats couldn’t find the mark from the field after getting up 40-21 very early in the second half. GCU had a 14-2 run to get things going and to make the score 44-40.

“We gotta be prepared for 40 minutes not 20,” MSU guard Raequan Battle said. “We were prepared for the first 20 and they were prepared for the second 20. And the second 20 is the most important.”

GCU scored the game’s first four points before MSU imposed their will and slowly built a 15-4 lead when Caleb Fuller made a layup at the 11:12 mark of the first half. The Bobcats kept their foot on the gas and went into the locker room with a 36-19 lead thanks to Tyler Patterson’s 3-point bomb at the buzzer.

MSU scored on its first possession of the second half on a dunk by Jubrile Belo and seemed primed to continue to take it to the Antelopes. Then the big GCU run happened and MSU couldn’t fully re-group.

Gabe McGlothan posterized a pair of MSU defenders with a dunk off a turnover to put GCU up 55-52 with 2:31 to play. Then, after MSU couldn’t connect despite several good looks under the basket, Blackshear hit his dagger 3-ball with 24 second to go to give GCU a 58-52 lead that MSU couldn’t recover from.

“I thought our swagger in the first half was something to be proud of,” MSU post Great Osobor said. “It’s just a matter of staying on team’s necks and finish off the game.”

Osobor was MSU’s lone player in double figures with 11 points. Belo was next with nine points and a team-high six rebounds.

MSU was plagued by foul trouble in the second half as four players finished with four or more fouls and Darius Brown II fouled out.

That combined with GCU’s more aggressive play and will to get to the rim may have spelled MSU’s doom. The Antelopes were just 6 for 20 from the floor at one point, but guards Blackshear and especially Ray Harrison broke down MSU’s perimeter defenders off the dribble and the comeback was on.

MSU’s road trip continues next Sunday, November 13 at Long Beach State. The game will tip off at 5 p.m. MT and will be streamed on ESPN+.

Photos by Blake Hempstead, Skyline Sports. All Rights Reserved.