Transfer Makaih Williams makes splash in Grand Canyon’s exhibition win over Eastern New Mexico

There were lots of smiles, laughs, high fives and rings passed out before Grand Canyon took the floor against Eastern New Mexico in Tuesday’s basketball exhibition.

It took a while, after unfurling the WAC championship banner, for the 2024-25 Lopes to get into sync in an 87-57 victory over Division II ENMU before a sellout crowd of 7,244 at Global Credit Union Arena.

Makaih Williams, the WAC Freshman of the Year last season at UT-Arlington, made the biggest splash for a veteran team that was without its star, Tyon Grant-Foster, who won’t play his first game until Nov. 14 against Arizona State at Footprint Center.

Williams hit all seven of his shots, including all four of his 3-pointers, to finish with 18 points. It was a familiar place, but a different role for the guard, who lost to GCU in the WAC tournament championship game in Las Vegas with UT-Arlington last year.

Williams recalled coming into GCU as the villain last year. Now he’s one of the good guys.

“It was amazing,” Williams said of the raucous student-section Havocs. “I heard someone at courtside saying, ‘Good job.’ I was like, ‘Wow, I’m really here.’ It’s crazy.”

Williams entered for the first time six minutes into the game. He excited the Havocs with a steal and reverse layup to give the Lopes an 18-5 lead.

The Division II Greyhounds, who won 22 games last year, weren’t going to let the Lopes stay in a celebratory mood. They closed it to 18-13 with an 8-0 run, beating the Lopes’ understudies to the glass.

After a while, coach Bryce Drew brought his starting five back into the game. The Greyhounds kept chasing down loose rebounds and got within 22-17 on a 3 by Jaden Clarke.

Williams nailed a 3 to give GCU a 31-19 lead with 5:57 left in the half. He hit another 3 in the final minute of the half and the Lopes built a 44-26 lead, despite being outrebounded 23-18.

Williams was clearly the standout in the first half when he had 10 points on 4-for-4 shooting in 12 minutes of action.

In the second half, power forward JaKobe…

Source link : https://sports.yahoo.com/transfer-makaih-williams-makes-splash-144324088.html

Author : AZCentral | The Arizona Republic

Publish date : 2024-10-30 14:43:00

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