Isaia Howard led Iowa to its seventh straight win Wednesday night with 19 points off the bench in a 59-46 win over Grand Canyon in the Ariscure Classic championship game in Palm Desert, Calif.
Howard shot 7 of 10 from the field and hit three 3-pointers while also grabbing six rebounds. Bennett Stirtz totaled 13 points, five assists and three steals, and Cooper Koch had 11 points and six boards.
Iowa (7-0), which beat Ole Miss in the first game Tuesday night, defeated the Lopes despite shooting just 40.4% from the field after entering the game as the third-best shooting team in the nation (54.9%).
Jaden Henley was the only Grand Canyon (4-3) player to reach double figures in scoring with 16 points.
The Lopes, who beat Utah to reach the title game, committed 19 turnovers leading to 22 points for Iowa.
Iowa scored the first six points of the second half to go up by 13, while holding Grand Canyon scoreless until the 14:31 mark when Henley split a pair of free throws.
Efe Demirel had a couple of slams to help the Lopes trim the deficit to single digits, 46-37, with 5:14 left.
But Stirtz and Howard combined on a 9-0 run to push Iowa to a commanding 16-point lead with three minutes remaining to clinch the victory.
Henley scored eight quick points to boost Grand Canyon to a 10-4 lead to open the game.
The Hawkeyes roared ahead with a 13-3 run capped by a Stirtz dunk. That helped Iowa go into the locker room ahead 30-23.
GCU shot just 17-for-42 (40.5%) and was outrebounded 32-24.
Howard scored 13 points in the second half for Iowa, while no Grand Canyon player scored more than six in the second frame.
–Field Level Media
