Pepperdine Faces a Strong CS Long Beach

If Pepperdine’s basketball team had been playing Cal State Long Beach a season or two ago, it would have been considered a breather for the Waves.

But the 49ers, a different team for third-year Coach Ron Palmer than his past two squads, may not give the Waves a chance to catch their breath when they meet at 7:30 tonight in Firestone Fieldhouse at Malibu.

Long Beach was a combined 11-45 in Palmer’s first two seasons but is 3-2 this season and has upset both Houston and Bradley. Pepperdine is 2-1 and coming off a 95-82 loss at UCLA.

Forwards Eric White and Levy Middlebrooks, Pepperdine’s veterans and scoring leaders, are averaging 19.3 and 17.3 points a game, respectively, but UCLA shut them down in the first half last Saturday. White and Middlebrooks made 3 of 17 shots in that half, although Middlebrooks finished with 22 points and a game-high 16 rebounds, and White scored 14 points.

Pepperdine Coach Jim Harrick may have found some outside scoring help in Craig Davis, a redshirt freshman guard. Against the Bruins, Davis scored 20 points off the bench and made 8 of 11 shots, including 4 of 5 three-pointers.

Long Beach has been getting double-figure scoring from four starters, and junior guard Morlon Wiley tops the team with an average of nearly 16 points a game. Starting sophomore forward Andr1696616565against Houston.

After tonight, Pepperdine will play six of its next seven games on the road, including games at Washington State Saturday night and at Nevada Reno Monday night.