It Takes Time, but Pepperdine Defeats Gonzaga : Waves Eventually Survive Slowdown Tactics to Tie St. Mary’s for WCAC Lead

Snarled traffic on Pacific Coast Highway Friday night caused a half-hour delay in the start of the Gonzaga-Pepperdine basketball game at Firestone Fieldhouse in Malibu.

Because of a tanker trailer that overturned on the San Diego Freeway Friday afternoon, resulting in the closure of all northbound lanes, Gonzaga was caught in traffic for two hours while trying to get to the game.

When the game finally began before a crowd of 2,098, both teams had trouble getting started. Neither squad shot well--or often--against zone defenses that clogged the lanes, bogging down both offenses.

The game’s tempo, a slow crawl, suited the Bulldogs, who led throughout most of the game.

But it was Pepperdine that finally inched its way to a 69-66 victory and pulled back into a tie for first place with idle St. Mary’s in the West Coast Athletic Conference.

The Waves improved to 17-9 overall and 9-2 in the conference. Gonzaga fell to 13-11 and 4-7.

The Bulldogs couldn’t dictate the time of their arrival, but they controlled the tempo of the game from the outset.

Pepperdine had trouble getting open shots--and more trouble making them when players got open. The Waves shot 28.6% in the first half, and Tom Lewis was 1 for 10 from the field.

Meanwhile, the Bulldogs went 40% on 10-of-25 shooting and made 11 of 12 foul shots en route to a a 31-26 halftime advantage.,

Gonzaga stayed ahead until Lewis, who finished with 13 points, made two free throws to give Pepperdine its first lead of the second half at 49-48 with 7:43 left.

The lead changed hands twice more and the score was tied several more times before Craig Davis started unsnarling things with 3-point baskets. Davis, who always seems to play well against Gonzaga, hit four three-pointers in the second half on the way to a team-high 17 points. He had only four points in the first half.

Davis’ fourth three-pointer came with 54 seconds remaining and gave the Waves a 66-63 lead. But it wasn’t over yet.

Gonzaga kept clawing back, and it took three free throws by Rick Welch in the last 10 seconds to pull it out for Pepperdine.

Three other Pepperdine players scored in double figures. Dexter Howard had 15 points, Marty Wilson 11 and Casey Crawford 10.

Todd Franklin led Gonzaga with 19 points; Doug Spradley had 16 (including three 3-pointers), and Jim McPhee added 13.

Pepperdine, which has beaten Gonzaga four straight times, is 18-5 against the Bulldogs, 18-4 in WCAC games.