Waves Lose to DePaul, but Not Without Fight

Pepperdine Coach Jim Harrick is fond of saying that facing tough nonconference opponents is good preparation for conference action.

If the Waves were tuning up for West Coast Athletic Conference action in Tuesday night’s game against DePaul, they should be able to stay in the right pitch for the rest of the season.

Fifteenth-ranked DePaul (9-0) eventually won, 92-75, before 3,104 fans at Firestone Fieldhouse in Malibu, but it was closer than that for most of the game as the outmanned but fired-up Pepperdine (4-8) gave the Blue Demons as much as they could handle.

In the early going, it looked as if Pepperdine, not DePaul, was the top-20 team. The Waves grabbed a 4-0 lead and held it until a layup by Kevin Golden made it 10-10 and a three-pointer by Terence Greene gave the Blue Demons a 13-10 lead.

Then DePaul showed its superiority, getting strong rebounding by 6-foot 9-inch Dallas Comegys and 6-4 Greene, sharp ball-handling by Rod Strickland and good shooting by nearly everyone.

In the first half, the Blue Demons (19 of 33) outshot the Waves (17-35) and outrebounded them, 18-10.

Pepperdine freshman reserve Dexter Howard, hitting from inside and out, scored 17 first-half points to keep the Waves within striking distance. But DePaul expanded its lead by intermission to 47-40.

Howard cooled off a little in the second half, scoring seven to finish with 24 points, and the Blue Demons, behind double-figure scoring from five players, gradually wore down the Waves.

A layup by Comegys gave DePaul a 56-44 lead about four minutes into the second period. But the Waves refused to quit and closed to within four, 67-63, when Howard hit a jumper in the lane with 9:01 left. But that was as close as they came.

Comegys, Greene, Kevin Edwards and Stanley Brundy, a 6-6 sophomore from L.A. Crenshaw High School, each scored 17 points, while Strickland added 14 points.

Eric White scored 15 points and Levy Middlebrooks 12 for Pepperdine.

Some ill feeling boiled over with less than two minutes left. Pepperdine guard Jim Harrick, the coach’s son, fouled Strickland, who then punched Harrick. Both were ejected.

Pepperdine, the defending WCAC champion, will open conference play Jan. 9 at the University of San Francisco and then play at Santa Clara the next night.