Pepperdine Defeats Loyola

Dexter Howard scored 27 points and Tom Lewis 25 as Pepperdine turned the tables on the Loyola, winning 104-79 in a West Coast Athletic Conference game Wednesday night.

The Waves won their fifth consecutive game to improve to 13-7 and moved into the WCAC lead at 5-0, one-half game ahead of St. Mary’s.

The loss ended the Lions’ 19-game, regular-season WCAC winning streak, which began against Pepperdine in the last game of the 1986-87 season. The Lions dropped to 10-7 and 4-1.

Loyola Marymount had been averaging 112.4 points and Pepperdine 78.2. It was the Waves’ highest output of the year.

Loyola’s Hank Gathers, who led the nation with averages of 33.6 points and 14.5 rebounds, was held to 25 points and only two rebounds. Jeff Fryer had 22 points for the Lions.

Pepperdine took the lead for good at 28-26 on Craig Davis’ 3-point shot with 8:10 left in the first half, and the Waves increased it to 45-36 at halftime.

The Lions cut the deficit to 54-46 on a layup by Enoch Simmons with 16:27 left, but the Waves went on an 8-0 run, getting five from Howard, to move out to 62-46.

The Waves shot 63.2% and limited the Lions to 41.5%.