Beating their first five opponents by an average margin of 23 points, the GCU Men's Club Basketball team narrowly missed reaching the championship game for the second straight year, falling to the University of Wisconsin in the semifinal round of the National Intramural and Recreational Sports Association Basketball National Championships in Madison, Wisconsin. The loss ended the Lopes' dream of winning back-to-back national titles in their third appearance at NIRSA Nationals in the last four years.
Pool Play
The Lopes' weekend started with a trio of dominant pool play wins against Michigan State University (61-28), Northeastern Illinois University (60-35) and the University of Illinois (47-31). The 33-point win over the Spartans to open play was a balanced team effort, with no Lope scoring more than 13 points.
"It was important for us to set the tone early with a win against Michigan State," said GCU Head Coach Lamont Lane. "
David Black and
Jack Brackmann helped calm some nerves that our team had in the first game, but it was a total team effort."
Brackman led the Lopes with 16 points in the win over Northeastern Illinois, and against Illinois, Lopes' forward
Uriah Stokes, who left the first pool play game with an ankle injury and missed the second game, returned in the second half to bolster the Lopes' defense.
Bracket Play
GCU began the first round of bracket play with a 63-45 win over the University of Wisconsin-Whitewater.
"Despite the score at the end, our game against Wisconsin-Whitewater was a gritty win," said Lane. "Hunter Wells had a standout defensive performance for us and limited them at times when we couldn't score."
Quarterfinals: GCU 64, Illinois 39
Round 2 between the Lopes and Illini was even more lopsided than the pool-play matchup, with Lopes' junior
Jovanni Tapia filling the stat sheet with 13 points, six rebounds, and a team-high three blocks.
"[Jovanni] got into a rhythm scoring, and Uriah had his best game of the tournament," said Lane. "Contributions from Marcus [Windham] and
Shay Milshteen helped us blow the game open in the second half."
Semifinals: Wisconsin 40, GCU 35
A slow start by the Lopes against Wisconsin in the Badgers' home gym could've ended the suspense before halftime, but Lopes' senior guard Yeshua Brice willed the team back late, scoring 18 points in the second half. GCU even had a chance to tie the game with seconds left but the Lopes missed a clean look at a three and was forced to foul, helping the Badgers escape.
The Lopes finished the tournament with a 5-1 record.
