Pepperdine Runs Past Oklahoma State, 79-61

Pepperdine shook off some opening-day cobwebs Saturday and then ran away from Oklahoma State, defeating the Cowboys, 79-61, before 3,104 fans at Firestone Fieldhouse in Malibu.

The Waves fell behind, 5-0, but then cranked up its fast break and pulled away to a 41-28 halftime lead.

The Cowboys, who looked more like slowpokes and also didn’t shoot well (34.8%), never caught up.

With about six minutes gone in the second half, Oklahoma State pulled to within five points, 47-42, mostly on the close-in shooting of 6-foot 10-inch Sylvester Kincheon, who finished with a team-high 13 points. But Kincheon had just four rebounds and fouled out late in the game.

When the Cowboys threatened, Levy Middlebrooks and senior Eric White went to work on the boards, particularly on defense, and primed the fast break, resulting in one easy basket after another.

Middlebrooks, who had only two rebounds in the first period, finished with game highs of 20 points and 10 rebounds. White, who had only one rebound in the first half, grabbed eight more in the second half and finished with 19 points on 8-of-12 shooting.

Other Waves who scored in double figures were junior guard Ed Allen, a junior college transfer, with 13 points and Dexter Howard, a redshirt freshman forward, with 11, including two dunks off the fast break.

The Waves held junior guard Todd Christian, a good outside shooter at Hutchinson (Kan.) Junior College last season, to 12 points on 4-of-19 shooting.

Pepperdine Coach Jim Harrick said his team had concentrated on Christian on defense, and that the junior college All-American “had a hand in his face for most of the night.”