The UVU men’s basketball team knew going into Thursday’s WAC game on the road against league-leader Grand Canyon that it needed to play elite basketball to stay with the Antelopes.

But that wasn’t how things went for the Wolverines.

Offensive struggles, turnovers and foul trouble in the first half allowed Grand Canyon to go on a 14-0 run to turn a 5-5 game into a double-digit lead.

To their credit, the UVU players responded with a push of their own to trim the deficit to 20-14 but that would be as close as the Wolverines would get.

The Antelopes scored 12 of the next 13 points and never looked back, pulling away to get the 78-65 win over UVU.

The Wolverines likely knew it was going to be a tough night when two of their top three scorers — junior guard Drake Allen (12 points per game) and senior center Trevin Dorius (10.2 points per game) — picked up two fouls each in the first 10 minutes of play.

That combined with Grand Canyon’s ball-hawking defense and solid rebounding to limit UVU’s ability to get the ball in the basket in the first half.

The Lopes shot 60% from the field (compared to just 28% for the Wolverines) in the first 20 minutes to build a 45-25 lead at the break.

UVU didn’t let Grand Canyon extend the lead — but the Wolverines couldn’t ever come close to erasing the deficit either.

Allen ended up leading UVU in scoring as he put in 13 points, while freshman Tanner Toolson added 11 including going 3-of-6 from beyond the arc. While seven other Wolverines scored, no other UVU players got into double figures.

The Lopes were paced by 14 points from forward Gabe McGlothan who finished with 14 points including a trio of highlight-reel dunks.

Grand Canyon had a big advantage on the boards (40-31), which was aided by the fact that UVU missed 12 more shots than the Lopes did.

It was the third straight loss for UVU, which dropped to 8-10 on the season and 3-4 in WAC play. The Wolverines will look to get back on track when they host Utah Tech at the UCCU Center in Orem on Saturday at 2 p.m. That game can be seen on ESPN+.

Wolverine women’s basketball falls to Grand Canyon

Tahlia White scored a career-high 23 points but UVU couldn’t quite get the job done as it tried to knock off WAC-leading Grand Canyon, 78-68, on Thursday night in the UCCU Center.

“Tonight, against a really good Grand Canyon team we really competed, even when we got down and didn’t feel like things were going our way,” said UVU head coach Dan Nielson. “We kept coming and if a couple of bounces go our way, I think we’re right there. We’re not here for moral victories and it’s frustrating to look at our conference record because I know we’re better than that.”

White was 9-for-13 from the field­ and made four of her six attempts from three. Kylee Mabry added 12 points, Tessa Chaney scored eight, and Ally Criddle finished with seven points and six assists for the Wolverines (6-10, 1-6). Trinity San Antonio led five Lopes (15-3, 7-0) in double figures with 14 points while Anna Ostlie added 13 and made a trio of 3-pointers in the contest.

UVU finished the game 25-for-55 from the field (45.5%) while Grand Canyon made 27-for-55 (49.1%) and 9-for-24 from three. The Wolverines were 7-for-20 from beyond the arc. GCU had a 38-24 advantage on the glass, 13 coming off the offensive end that led to 21 second-chance points. Utah Valley forced 19 GCU turnovers and limited its own to 13.

The Wolverines will now head to St. George to face Utah Tech in the Old Hammer Rivalry on Saturday at 2 p.m. MT.

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