Wiley Carries Long Beach to Victory Over Pepperdine

Pepperdine, too tense in last week’s loss at UCLA, was relaxed Thursday night against Cal State Long Beach. Too relaxed.

The fired-up 49ers upset the Waves, 86-77, before 2,237 fans at Firestone Fieldhouse.

While the Waves seemed to be dozing for most of the first half, the 49ers, spurred by junior point guard Morlon Wiley, raced to a 27-11 lead.

When Wiley, who scored a team-high 17 points and handed out 9 assists, sat down with three fouls midway through the first half, Pepperdine got back in the game.

Pepperdine was trailing, 28-17, when its scoring leader Eric White, who finished with 15 points, picked up his third foul and was replaced by redshirt freshman Dexter Howard. Almost single-handedly, Howard, who ended the night with 18 points, brought the Waves back.

Howard scored eight straight points, including a backcourt steal, a drive and a dunk, and the Waves pulled within 36-33. Next, he hit a follow shot and then connected from the side to give Pepperdine its first lead, 39-38.

Mike Cumberland made a three-point play to give the Waves a 42-40 lead at intermission.

But Wiley came back in the second half, and so did the 49ers.

The teams played fairly evenly in the second half, and Pepperdine never led by more than six points.

But Long Beach center John Hatten sank a follow shot after his own miss to make it 67-67. And Tony Ronzone hit from three-point range to give the 49ers (4-2) their first lead since the first half at 70-67.

Long Beach never lost the lead after that, and Pepperdine (2-2) saw its 30-game winning streak at home come to an end.

Pepperdine Coach Jim Harrick said he thought that Wiley “dominated the game with his ballhandling, passing and shooting.”

Long Beach Coach Ron Palmer agreed: “He did a hell of a job. When he came out of the game, that’s when they came back.”

One bright spot for the Waves was junior guard Ed Allen’s game-high 23 points on 9-of-16 shooting.