Push Comes to Shove: Pepperdine Wins, 64-60

What it was Saturday night was basketball between Pepperdine and Santa Clara. But you wouldn’t have known it with all the pushing and shoving.

In a victory of mostly finesse over muscle, Pepperdine came from behind to edge the Broncos, 64-60, before a home crowd of 3,222 at Firestone Fieldhouse in Malibu. Pepperdine improved to 4-0 in the West Coast Athletic Conference and 16-3 overall. Santa Clara dropped to 1-3 and 6-11

The Waves had trouble penetrating Santa Clara’s tightly packed zone and had more trouble shooting over it in the first half. Pepperdine shot only 42.3% in the first period to 65% for the Broncos, who got most of their points inside and led at intermission, 31-28.

Pepperdine led only once in the early going, at 4-2. After that, Santa Clara’s 6-9, 225-pound center Dan Weiss, who finished with a career-high 19 points and a game-high 10 rebounds, muscled his way to 11 first-half points.

Referees called 35 personal fouls during the game, but if they had called it any tighter, there might not have been enough players to continue.

In the second half, Pepperdine’s Eric White started fronting Weiss and denying Weiss the ball, and Santa Clara’s shooting dropped off a little to 57.9%.

And the Waves, led by the clutch shooting and ball stealing of Dwayne Polee and some key shots and rebounds by Grant Gondrezick, got back into the game.

With 12:41 remaining in the second half, Gondrezick, who finished with a team-high 9 rebounds and 10 points, hit an eight-foot jumper to give the Waves a 42-41 lead, their first since early in the game.

In the next 11 1/2 minutes the lead changed hands nine times, the last time when Polee, who scored a team-high 19 points, connected on a 15-footer to make it 60-58 for Pepperdine.

On Santa Clara’s next possession, Jon Korfas came up with a steal, and Pepperdine got the ball in down low to Eric White. Chris Lane committed his fifth foul of the game on White, who then hit two free throws with 27 seconds left.

It was 62-58, but it wasn’t over yet. Steve Kenilvort hit a baseline jumper for Santa Clara. But Gondrezick answered with a breakaway layup with 12 seconds remaining, and the Waves led, 64-60.

After a Santa Clara timeout, Weiss bounced an 18-footer off the rim, and the game ended with several bodies on the floor, scrambling for the ball--something the teams had been doing all night.

Pepperdine Coach Jim Harrick said of his team’s struggle: “It seemed like we could never get a bucket, never quite get over the mountain. But we had enough persistence to win the game.”

The Waves finished by shooting 55.3%. Besides Polee’s 19 points and Gondrezick’s 10, three other Waves were in double figures: White with 14, Anthony Frederick with 11 and Korfas with 10.

In rebounding, the teams tied with 22 apiece.

Santa Clara Coach Carroll Williams said that Pepperdine “didn’t hurt us inside like they can.” But he added, “We’re not good enough to get the big play or bucket when we need it.”