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OREM — Coming off its first conference win in a decisive result over Abilene Christian, Utah Valley faced a tough task in Grand Canyon at home.
The Lopes, who have won the last two WAC championships, are the favorites to win it again this year as voted by the preseason coaches poll.
With multiple NBA scouts in attendance, the Wolverines overcame the Lopes' second-half surge — a 13-point lead that shrunk to 1 — and shocked Grand Canyon 72-64 Thursday night, handing the Lopes its first conference loss since February 2024.
"I am really proud of our defense tonight," Utah Valley head coach Todd Phillips said. "I thought we guarded one of the best offensive teams in the league."
Dominick Nelson came up big for Utah Valley, pouring in 21 points, seven rebounds, two blocks and two steals to lead the Wolverines. Tanner Toolson added his 3-point ability by knocking down two, paired with 17 points and seven rebounds.
"I've been circling this game for a long time," Toolson said. "But at the same time, it's just another conference win and we have to move on. We have another big one on Saturday."
Trevan Leonhardt was the Wolverines' utility man, dishing out eight assists and grabbing eight rebounds, while hitting all four of his free-throw attempts.
The Wolverines and Lopes traded shots early, with six lead changes in six minutes of play. The Wolverines offense got sped up compared to other games in an attempt to throw off the Lopes' guard early on.
Utah Valley got the looks it wanted early, getting five open looks behind the 3-point line, but failed to hit on any of them. Outside of the 3-pointers, Utah Valley shot 6-of-10 from the field, while Grand Canyon shot 4-of-9.
The Wolverines had more success on offense after Toolson connected on a 3-pointer to take a 4-point lead. He then lobbed a pass to Carter Welling, who slammed it home, prompting a Grand Canyon timeout to closeout a Utah Valley 8-0 run over a four-minute slate.
Utah Valley continued to control a double-digit lead as Grand Canyon switched to a zone on defense, but the Wolverines continued to maintain an advantage by scoring points off Lopes turnovers.
By halftime, Utah Valley's defensive pressure and offensive shot making had Grand Canyon stunned as the Wolverines held a 35-25 lead.
The Wolverines opened up the second half with a 3-pointer by Osiris Grady, but went on a dry spell offensively by missing five straight shots, while Grand Canyon went on a 6-0 run to cut the deficit to 7.
The momentum continued to sway toward the Lopes as the defensive intensity increased, limiting the looks that Utah Valley got. Grand Canyon used that momentum to crawl back to within 4 points, backed by Tyon Grant-Foster's impressive second half performance.
The Lopes had nearly equaled its 25-point first half total in nine minutes of the second half.
"We knew they were going to throw punches in the second half, but being able to play team defense and punch them back, I think we did that really well tonight." Toolson said.
Utah Valley went on yet another dry spell on offense, going four minutes without a field goal, but the home team maintained a 1-point lead with 7:50 to play.
A key turning point in the second half was when Lopes big man Duke Brennan was called for his fourth foul with seven minutes left in the game, which allowed Utah Valley to introduce more physicality into the paint while forcing Grand Canyon to play around the perimeter.
After back-to-back blocks on the defensive end for Utah Valley, Grand Canyon was forced to insert Brennan back into the game, with hopes to end the home team momentum.
Toolson hit a his first shot of the second half to give Utah Valley a 10-point lead with three minutes left to play, but a timely block by Grant-Foster led to a 3-pointer on the other end by Ray Harrison, who eclipsed the top-10 scorers all time in Grand Canyon history,
He secured another block on the ensuing defensive posession, but it fell at the hands of Jackson Holcombe, who laid it in to push Utah Valley back to a 9-point lead.
Grant-Foster finished with 22 points, eight rebounds and four blocks in the effort.
Utah Valley will look to continue its winning streak against Cal Baptist on Saturday at 2 p.m. MST at the UCCU Center.
