LAS VEGAS — Gabe McGlothan finished with 35 points and 10 rebounds to power Grand Canyon to an 84-79 victory over Seattle University on Thursday night in the quarterfinal round of the Western Athletic Conference tournament at Orleans Arena.
No. 3 seed Grand Canyon advances to play against No. 1-seed Sam Houston on Friday at 6 p.m. Pacific in the semifinals.
Rayshon Harrison added 12 points and seven assists for the Antelopes (22-11). Walter Ellis scored nine.
The No. 11 seed Redhawks (20-12) were led by Cameron Tyson with 27 points. Riley Grigsby scored 15 points. Alex Schumacher totaled 14 points, six rebounds and four assists.
Grigsby has 1,501 career points.
“We started the game in the first half playing Seattle U basketball, the way we were guarding and defending, but the second half got away from us,” Redhawks coach Chris Victor said. “We got down by a good amount and then, so proud of these guys … nothing is going their way but the heart of this group, fighting back possession by possession. … But at the end of the day, we didn’t get enough stops, didn’t make enough plays in the second half to get it done.”
“Gabe was just sensational,” coach Bryce Drew told the Arizona Republic. “He’s been playing such terrific basketball the last three weeks of the season. This game was just a tremendous individual performance.
“What’s so special about Gabe is even when he is having special individual performance, everything is team oriented. Everything is within the team concepts.”