Lewis Scores 30 to Lead Pepperdine to Overtime Win

When Pepperdine played Santa Clara on the road last week, Tom Lewis was held to six points and the Waves lost.

On Saturday night, Lewis scored a game-high 30 points, including a key three-point play in overtime, to lead the Waves to a 95-86 victory before 2,500 fans at Firestone Fieldhouse in Malibu.

Pepperdine, 16-7 overall, raised its West Coast Athletic Conference record to 8-2 and maintained sole possession of second place in the conference. Santa Clara fell to 15-8 and 6-4, losing its second straight conference game.

After last week’s sub-par performance by Lewis, his lowest scoring night as a Wave, Pepperdine Coach Jim Harrick had predicted that Lewis would come back. And he did the next night, scoring 29 in a victory over the University of San Francisco.

But Lewis, who was averaging 22.4 points going into Saturday night’s game, must have savored this comeback even more.

He scored 7 points less than five minutes into the game and finished the first half with 20 points, spurring the Waves to a 42-38 lead.

And he got most of his points against Roland H’Orvath, who got the credit for containing Lewis the last time the teams met.

But even this time, Lewis and his teammates had to work hard for every shot against the hands-on defense of the Broncos.

Pepperdine led throughout the first half, but H’Orvath hit two quick baskets to start the second half, and Santa Clara tied it, 42-42. Osei Appiah made two free throws at the 16:50 mark to give the Broncos their first lead, 48-46.

It was close the rest of the way. There were 15 lead changes and 9 ties.

Both teams had opportunities to build solid leads in the closing minutes of the second half. But both frittered away those chances.

When Levy Middlebrooks, who finished with 19 points, fouled out with 1:13 left, Pepperdine’s hopes appeared to fade. And with the scored tied, 79-79, Craig Davis missed an 18-foot jumper, and the game went into overtime.

Davis finished with 23 points, including five three-point shots, and all of his shots were needed. Santa Clara’s Mitch Burley, who hadn’t scored a point Friday night against Loyola, led the Broncos with 26 points, including a school-record six three-pointers. Dan Weiss added 21 points for the Broncos before fouling out late in the game.

With 1:19 left in overtime, H’Orvath stole the ball and scored on a breakaway dunk to cut Pepperdine’s lead to 85-83.

But Davis hit the last of his three-pointers, and seconds later, Casey Crawford blocked a shot by Burley. Donny Moore got the ball and fed Mike Cumberland for a breakaway dunk. Cumberland then made a free throw to complete a three-point play, and Pepperdine had a 91-83 lead with 42 seconds left.

Pepperdine Coach Jim Harrick said his team had played better defense in overtime than it had for most of regulation and was critical of Burley, who missed a couple of long shots down the stretch.