Waves Get Past McNeese St., 87-70

What was supposed to be a duel between smooth-shooting forwards from Pepperdine and McNeese State turned into a dogfight Monday night.

And Pepperdine came out of it with fewer scars and an 87-70 victory before 1,307 fans at Firestone Fieldhouse in Malibu.

It was the 30th straight home victory for Pepperdine, 2-0 this season.

Pepperdine’s Eric White scored 25 points, and teammate Michael Cumberland added 20. Other Waves in double figures were Dexter Howard with 15, Ed Allen with 11 and Levy Middlebrooks with 10 points and 12 rebounds.

But McNeese forward Jerome Batiste, White’s teammate on an all-star tour of Europe last summer, got in early foul trouble, sat out long stretches and eventually fouled out with just 12 points.

Michael Cutright led the Cowboys (2-1) with 16 points but made only 3 of 10 three-point shots, and teammate Tab Harris added 14 points.

Pepperdine Coach Jim Harrick said McNeese put Batiste on White on defense and “We went right at him. Frankly, I didn’t think he could stay with Eric, and he picked up some not very smart fouls.”

Not surprisingly, McNeese Coach Glenn Duhon said he felt Batiste was a victim of some bad calls.

Duhon said the “difference in the ballgame was that Pepperdine was allowed to go to the (offensive) boards and we were not.” Pepperdine outrebounded McNeese, 44-32.

Duhon added that Pepperdine “is a good team with two good forwards (including Middlebrooks) and is going to win a lot of ball games.”

Batiste sat down with three fouls in the first half with Pepperdine leading, 22-17. The Waves increased their lead to 40-31 at halftime.

In the second half, the Waves held a 52-41 lead when Batiste came out with his fourth personal foul. When he came back, Pepperdine led by 19 points.

Five players fouled out, including three Cowboys, and a total of 46 personal fouls were called, 23 on each team.