Pepperdine Puts Stop to Loyola Run, 104-79

Pepperdine put a dent in Loyola Marymount’s scoring machine Wednesday night.

The Waves, playing tough defense, held the Lions to their lowest point total of the season and came away with a 104-79 victory before 3,367 fans at Firestone Fieldhouse in Malibu.

Loyola, leading the nation in team scoring with an average of 112.4 points a game, was held to its lowest output of the season. The previous low for the Lions was their 85-83 victory over Wisconsin Green Bay.

Pepperdine simply was playing defense the way it has most of the season. Before Wednesday, the Waves had limited 19 opponents to 42.4% shooting. Wednesday, the Lions shot 41.5%, and they weren’t getting nearly as many shots as they usually do.

Pepperdine also did an effective job on Hank Gathers, the nation’s scoring and rebounding leader. Gathers scored a team-high 25 points but had only 2 rebounds--far under his average of 14.5 a game.

Dexter Howard had a game-high 27 points, and Tom Lewis added 25 for Pepperdine. Each had 12 rebounds.

Loyola Coach Paul Westhead said: “It was hard to find any cracks in what (Pepperdine) attempted. They held the ball well, used the clock well and rebounded well. There’s not much left to do after that.”

Westhead added that the victory was “a very high tribute to Pepperdine. They did an excellent job.”

The Waves won their fifth straight conference game and are 13-7 overall. Loyola fell to 4-1 and 10-7.

Pepperdine Coach Tom Asbury said his team had “no cause for celebration,” adding, “We’ve got to go right over there and prove it again.”

The teams will meet again at 5 p.m. Sunday at Loyola’s Gersten Pavilion.

Asbury did praise his players for the way they handled Loyola’s full-court press and their aggressive rebounding.

“Tonight, we rebounded with emotion. We didn’t have a lot of time in preparation, but what we did have we used to work against the press.”

The Waves out-rebounded the Lions, 43-24.

Though the Waves were stingy about giving up points, their fans were not. After Howard scored the game’s first basket, fans on the Pepperdine side showered the floor with rolls of toilet paper.

A technical foul was called on the crowd, and Jeff Fryer made both free throws. Fryer, who made 6 3-point shots, finished with 22 points.

In the first half, Pepperdine, controlling the tempo, did a good job of containing Loyola, the nation’s top-scoring team.