RIVERSIDE--- The California Baptist University will have a solo conference showdown this week as they travel to Phoenix, Arizona, to battle the Lopes of Grand Canyon on Saturday, February 22.

The Lancers are 6-5 in the standings entering the matchup and are currently in sole possession of third place, with both Seattle U and Tarleton right on their heels. The Lopes are in a contested battle for first place as they sit at 9-2 and are currently one game behind Utah Valley for the top spot in the Western Athletic Conference.

This will be the final meeting between these two programs this season and as Western Athletic Conference foes, with the Lopes set to join the Mountain West next season as a non-football institution. In the first meeting this season, the Lancers dominated the matchup in Riverside, winning 86-71 in the Fowler Events Center. Sophomore guard Tylen Riley was the hero of the night in that game, scoring a career-high 25 points off the bench and providing critical defensive stops to help halt a streaking GCU squad. CBU never trailed in the second half of the contest and had five players in double figures in the signature win.

Since the two teams clashed in Riverside in early February, the Lopes went on a 2-0 Texas road trip where they defeated both Tarleton and UTA, while the Lancers split a home-and-away week with a loss at UTA and a Homecoming victory over Utah Tech on Saturday. In the national rankings, GCU is one of the top teams in the country in terms of free throws and forcing turnovers, ranking 6th in the country in made free throws and 13th in steals per game. In the previous matchup, the Lancers mitigated GCU's strengths by outscoring the Lopes by 11 at the free-throw line and having eight fewer turnovers than them.

CBU's best strength is the offensive firepower of Dominique Daniels Jr., who continues to pace the conference in scoring. Daniels Jr. is coming off his best game of the season on Saturday night against Utah Tech, dropping 36 points on 11-18 shooting and connecting on all ten of his free throws. Daniels Jr. is 11th in the country in points per game average at 20 per contest and is 34th in total points scored with 501.

CBU at Grand Canyon

DATE/TIME: Feb. 22 @5 PM PT

LOCATION: GCU Arena- Phoenix, AZ

WATCH: ESPN+