WCAC Roundup : Waves Finish Off Regular Season--and Loyola, 87-82

Pepperdine, which beat Loyola Marymount in February when it mattered, did it again Wednesday night when it didn’t matter.

But it wasn’t nearly as easy as the last time.

Dwayne Polee, named the West Coast Athletic Conference’s Most Valuable Player for the second season in a row, scored 24 points to lead the Waves to a come-from-behind 87-82 win over the Lions before a full house of 3,477 at Firestone Fieldhouse in Malibu.

Polee also did a good job on Loyola’s Keith Smith, holding him to nine points, including just one point in the second half, when Pepperdine roared back to win after trailing at halftime, 48-46.

But no one was able to contain Loyola’s Forrest McKenzie, who scored 28 points on 14-of-22 shooting and broke Loyola’s career scoring record with 2,006 points.

Mike Yoest added 23 points for Loyola, and Pepperdine’s Grant Gondrezick added 21, teammate Eric White scored 20 and Wave guard Jon Korfas had 12 points and 14 assists.

Pepperdine (25-4 overall, 13-1) already had clinched the WCAC title. Loyola finished 18-10 and 10-4.

It was a high-scoring game. But when the teams met in February it was a far different story.

Pepperdine won the earlier contest, 79-64, leading at halftime, 34-23, and holding McKenzie and Smith to 14 points apiece, well under their combined average.

The Lions, who shot poorly in the first half in their earlier loss to Pepperdine, came out firing this time. Loyola, which led most of the first half but never by more than five points, shot 58.8% in the first half.

The Lions cooled off to 51.5% shooting for the game, while the Waves shot 56.7% for the night.

The last time the teams met, Coach Coach Paul Westhead complained that Pepperdine players made a practice of holding onto the ball after the Waves scored, thus preventing the Lions from getting into their running game.

The Waves didn’t seem to do any holding Wednesday night,, although Westhead seemed to be complaining about the same problem when he took a timeout in the second half after Pepperdine closed to 59-57 on a baseline jumper by White.

The Waves forged ahead, 67-65, on an 18-foot jumper by Gondrezick.

Yoest hit a 16-footer to tie the game for the last time, 75-75. But Polee made two free throws, and Gondrezick added two more, and the Waves were ahead to stay, but never by much.