PHOENIX, Ariz. – Grand Canyon forced 21 turnovers as the Lopes topped the Northern Illinois University men's basketball team, 88-59, on Monday night (Nov. 10) at Global Credit Union Arena. Daemar Kelly (Pittsburgh, Pa./Penn Hills) led NIU with 12 points, Hassan 'Tre' Washington (Providence, R.I./Prise Academy) added a career-best 10 points. 

The Lopes finished with a 33-12 edge in points off turnovers. 

"Unlike Wisconsin, the first four minutes I thought we held our own," said NIU head coach Rashon Burno. "But when you're not making shots and you are turning the ball over, I think we had 10 turnovers early … (Grand Canyon) was desperate coming off a home loss and I don't think we had the right mindset to battle for 40 minutes."

Kelly, JJ Taylor (Chicago, Ill./San Ysidro) and Gustav Winther (Roskilde, Denmark) each knocked in a triple in the opening four minutes as the Huskies led 9-8 in the early going. 

Winther finished with nine points on 4-of-4 from the field, 1-of-1 from the free-throw line. 

The Lopes answered with the next seven to take a 16-9 lead and force a Huskie timeout. Grand Canyon added two more after the timeout before Washington connected on NIU's fourth triple to bring the Huskies back within a half-dozen, 18-12, with 14:05 left in the half. 

A putback from Winther cut the Grand Canyon lead to seven, 23-16, but the Lopes scored five of the next six to lead 28-17 with a little under eight minutes remaining in the opening stanza. 

Grand Canyon's lead grew to 20 late in the half before Makhai Valentine (Munhall, Pa./Steel Valley) knocked in a pair of triples, including one at the buzzer, to trim the Lopes advantage to 43-29 at the intermission. 

Caleb Shaw and Makaih Williams each had 10 points to lead Grand Canyon in the opening 20 minutes, Jao Ituka (Gaithersburg, Md./Gaithersburg) and Valentine each had six for NIU. The Lopes had a 23-3 advantage in points off turnovers in the first half as the Huskies had 14 turnovers to seven for Grand Canyon. 

Grand Canyon scored eight of the first 10 to open the second half as the Lopes lead ballooned to 51-31 three minutes into the second stanza. 

The run grew to 17-2 to open the second half for Grand Canyon as the lead grew to 60-31 with a little over 15 minutes to play. 

Five players finished in double figures for the Lopes, led by 16 points from Wilhelm Breidenbach. Williams added 15, Jaden Henley scored 14, Shaw finished with 12 points and Nana Owusu-Anane had 10 points and 11 rebounds. 

Grand Canyon shot 49.2 percent (30-of-61) from the field and 94.7 percent (18-of-19) from the free-throw line, while holding NIU to just 34.7 percent (17-of-49). The Huskies did shoot 81 percent (17-of-21) from the free-throw line. 

NIU will return home on Thursday, Nov. 13, when the Huskies host Benedictine at the NIU Convocation Center at 7 p.m. Tickets for Thursday's game, and all Huskie basketball games, are on sale now at NIUHuskies.com/tickets or by contactng the NIU Ticket Office at 815-753-PACK (7225) weekdays between 9 a.m.-5 p.m.