(St. George, Utah - Jan. 25, 2025) - The Trailblazers saw their four-game home winning streak come to an end on Saturday night falling 79-66 to Grand Canyon at Burns Arena.

"Give them a lot of credit, they came out and were really aggressive. Two things I happy with, we held them off the glass and I challenged them when we were down 25, we got it down to 13 and kept fighting," head coach Jon Judkins said.

Utah Tech (6-14, 2-3 WAC) was led by the sixth double-double of the season from Beon Riley, who finished with a team-leading 19 points and 11 rebounds.

Hakim Byrd chipped in 11 points while Madiba Owona came off the bench adding eight points and dished out a career-high four assists.

Grand Canyon (15-5, 5-1 WAC) won their fourth straight contest and GCU had four Lopes finish in double figures led by 18 points from JaKobe Coles along with 13 points from Ray Harrison.

Duke Brennan picked up a double-double with 12 points and a team-high 12 rebounds.

How It Happened
Getting off to a slow start, Grand Canyon jumped out to an early 9-3 lead before a layup from Riley made it a four-point contest.

A 9-0 run for the Lopes pushed their lead to 18-5, but a quick 6-2 run for the Trailblazers saw buckets from Riley, Misic and Owona that cut GCU's lead to 20-11.

With the Lopes opening back up a 16-point lead with a 10-3 run, the Trailblazers ended the half with seven of the final 11 points of the half as a three-pointer at the buzzer by Byrd was called off as GCU led 34-21 at the break.

The first five minutes of the second half saw the Lopes open up a 51-28 lead and extended it to a 28-point lead (72-44) with 7:01 left to play.

Continuing to fight until the final whistle, the Trailblazers outscored the Lopes, 22-7 over the final seven minutes as a final dunk by Owona tallied the final basket of the night for UT.

Numbers to Know

• It was the 25th meeting between the Trailblazers and Lopes as Utah Tech dropped its sixth straight contest against Grand Canyon. The two teams will meet for a second time this season in Phoenix on March 6.
• The Trailblazers saw their four-game home winning streak come to an end as it was UT's first home loss since Dec. 13, 2024 against Weber State.
• The loss was the first home WAC loss of the season and first since March 2, 2024 against Abilene Christian.
• Riley hit double figures for the 12th time this season and he led the team in scoring for the sixth time. It was the 12th time this season he has led the team or had a share of the team lead in rebounds.
• Riley notched his sixth double-double of the year and it was his first since Dec. 19, 2024 against South Dakota.
• Byrd tallied his sixth game in double figures  season and it was his fourth in his last five games.
• Gonsalves hit a pair of free throws to push his consecutive made free throws streak to 26.
• Gonsalves was held without a three-pointer for the first time all season and for the first time in 31 games dating backing to Jan. 25, 2024 at Abilene Christian.
• The Trailblazers shot 36.9 percent (24-65) from the field, 26.1 percent (6-23) and 70.6 percent (12-17) from the free throw line.
• UT outrebounded GCU, 34-32 and it was the first time this season the Trailblazers lost when they tallied more rebounds than their opponent moving to 5-1 on the year.
• It was the fourth time this season the Trailblazers have held an opponent to five or less offensive rebounds as the Lopes finished with five compared to 17 offensive rebounds for the Trailblazers, third-most on the season.
• The Trailblazers held the advantage in both second chance points (15-8) and fast break points (11-6).

What's Next
The Trailblazers hit the road next week traveling to Texas for a contest at Tarleton State (8-13, 3-3 WAC) on Thursday and UT Arlington (9-11, 2-4 WAC) on Saturday.