It’s Not Very Artistic, but Waves Win, 93-88

The Wizard of Westwood came to see Monday night’s basketball game between Pepperdine and UC Santa Barbara at Firestone Fieldhouse in Malibu.

But he didn’t see much John Wooden basketball.

There was bad execution by both teams. The game was filled with errors--fouls, turnovers, missed layups, alley-oop passes that bounced off the glass and away from their targets, passes that wound up in spectators’ laps, air balls and poor foul-shooting technique.

But Pepperdine did manage to break a six-game losing streak, defeating the Gauchos, 93-88, before 2,188 fans.

Pepperdine Coach Jim Harrick admitted it was not a pretty win but said he was happy to get it. The six-game losing streak matched the longest of any his teams. The last time his Waves lost that many in a row was in 1980.

Pepperdine (3-6) led through much of the first half, even though its guards had trouble handling the ball against the press and leading scorer Eric White missed both of his field goal attempts and wound up with 2 points on foul shots.

Brian Shaw’s three-point shot with three seconds left cut Pepperdine’s lead to 40-39 at halftime.

But in the second period, Pepperdine’s guards, including Harrick’s son Jim, began getting the ball to White when he was open, and White responded with 17 points in the second half, 19 for the game.

Other Waves in double figures were Ed Allen with 19 points, Mike Cumberland and Dexter Howard with 15 each, and Levy Middlebrooks with 12 points and 9 rebounds.

Brian Vaughns led the Gauchos (3-4) with 18 points and 14 rebounds. Four others scored in double figures for the Gauchos--Khris Fortson and Carrick DeHart each with 16, Carlton Davenport with 15 and Shaw with 13. Shaw hit 3 of 4 three-point shot.