Pepperdine Stumbles, Doesn’t Fall : Waves Remain Tied for First With Lackluster 68-65 Win

If Pepperdine was rehearsing Friday night against the University of San Diego, it won’t play well in its West Coast Athletic Conference basketball showdown tonight against St. Mary’s.

The Waves stumbled, fumbled and bumbled their way through the first 36 minutes against San Diego, but managed to win, 68-65, before a crowd of 1,406 at Firestone Fieldhouse in Malibu.

Pepperdine improved to 14-8 overall and 6-1 in the WCAC, remaining in a first-place tie in the conference with St. Mary’s.

The Toreros fell to 6-13 and 1-6.

“Obviously, we weren’t ready to play,” said Pepperdine Coach Tom Asbury, who added that it was also clear that his team was looking ahead to St. Mary’s. The Waves will play host to the Gaels at 7:30 p.m.

If you didn’t know the players, you would have thought that San Diego was the first-place team and Pepperdine was in last place Friday night. At least it looked that way in the first half.

The Toreros outshot the Waves, 67% to 42.3%, and outrebounded them, 14-10, en route to a 41-37 halftime lead.

The only reason Pepperdine managed to stay close in the half was that it made 5 of 9 3-point shots.

Pepperdine came out with more intensity in the second half and managed to tie the Toreros several times and trade leads with them on several other occasions. But neither team was able to pull away.

With 3:13 left in the game, Pepperdine’s Shann Ferch hit a baseline jumper to tie the game for the 13th time at 62-62.

Successive layups by Tom Lewis and Craig Davis gave Pepperdine a 66-62 lead--the biggest of the night for the Waves.

Danny Means made two free throws as Toreros pulled within 66-64 of the Waves with 2:12 remaining.

After a Pepperdine turnover and missed shots by each team, San Diego’s Craig Cottrell missed the front end of a one-and-one free-throw situation, and Marty Wilson got the rebound for the Waves.

Wilson hit the front end of the one-and-one but missed the second, leaving Pepperdine with a 67-64 lead.

Means was fouled with 6 seconds left and hit his first free throw. But his intentional miss of the second bounced off the backboard and failed to hit the rim. The ball was awarded to Pepperdine and Wilson was fouled. He made the front end of the one-and-one for the game’s final point.

Four Waves scored in double figures. Lewis had 13, Davis 12, Ferch 11 and Wilson 10.

Dondi Bell led San Diego with 14 points, and Cottrell had 12, Gylan Dottin 11 and Means 10.