Cold-Shooting St. Mary’s Loses to Pepperdine, 65-49

St. Mary’s and Pepperdine played basketball Saturday night, and the Waves emerged with a 65-49 West Coast Athletic Conference victory before 1,116 fans at Firestone Fieldhouse in Malibu.

But the Gaels, who dropped to 5-5 in the WCAC and 14-10 overall, must have thought it was a shoot-around. Most of the time, they were shooting around--not into--the basket.

St. Mary’s, shooting 40.5% (17 of 42), Gaels didn’t hit their first shot until more than three minutes had elapsed in the game.

Gael guard Paul Robertson made a three-point shot with 13:45 remaining in the first period. And St. Mary’s didn’t score again for more than seven minutes, when Robertson hit another three-pointer.

Robertson led the Gaels with 11 points, and teammate Sly Hunter added 10.

Pepperdine, which improved to 3-6 in conference play and 8-14 overall, wasn’t much warmer.

The Waves shot 44.4% (24 of 54) from the field but outrebounded the Gaels, 36-26, and made the most of second and third scoring efforts.

Pepperdine also made the most of its free-throw opportunities, hitting 12 of 13 from the line. St. Mary’s was worse from the foul line than it was from the field, hitting just 12 of 22 free throws, an atrocious 43.5%

Eric White, who finished with 17 points and a game-high 10 rebounds, led four Waves who scored in double figures. Craig Davis and Ed Allen each had 16 points, and Mike Cumberland added 10

Pepperdine Coach Jim Harrick said that his game plan on defense was to key on the Gaels’ scoring leaders, Robertson and Mike Haugen.

The strategy worked. Haugen was held scoreless in the first half and finished with just six points. Roberston made only 4 of 10 shots from the field. Robertson had been averaging 14 points a game and Haugen 13.3.

Harrick said that Cumberland had done a good job of keeping Haugen away from the basket and that Donnie Moore had done the most to deny Robertson the ball.

Levy Middlebrooks, Pepperdine’s top rebounder, missed the game with a strained Achilles’ tendon. The injury kept him from playing most of Friday night’s loss to the University of San Diego.

Harrick said he thinks Middlebrooks should be ready for this week’s conference games at Portland on Thursday and against Gonzaga on Saturday.