Asbury Unhappy as Pepperdine Rolls Past Portland, 86-68

Although Pepperdine defeated Portland, 86-68, Saturday night, Coach Tom Asbury wasn’t particularly pleased with the way his team played.

The Waves, looking sluggish at times, had a difficult time shaking off Portland before 3,029 fans at Firestone Fieldhouse in Malibu.

Simply, Asbury didn’t think his players were trying very much.

Asbury said some of his players thought “they would show up, put the uniforms on and win” against the Pilots, the seventh-place team in the West Coast Athletic Conference.

But Portland, which fell to 2-23 overall and 2-10 in the conference, didn’t play like an also-ran.

Although the Waves didn’t look like a first-place team, they improved to 18-9 and 10-2. They remain in a first-place tie with St. Mary’s. The Gaels (22-3, 10-2) defeated the University of San Diego Saturday night in San Diego.

Neither Pepperdine nor Portland played much defense in the first half. The teams kept trading baskets and leads through the first 15 minutes.

Rodney Johnson, who finished with a game-high 27 points, made one of his seven three-point baskets, giving the Pilots a 38-37 lead with 4:53 remaining in the half.

But Rick Welch answered with a three-pointer, starting an 11-0 run that gave Pepperdine a 48-38 halftime lead.

The Waves may have thought that they had shaken Portland at that point, but they hadn’t.

The teams went back to trading baskets in the second half, but the balance of trade began shifting to Pepperdine little by little.

The Waves may have thought they had put away the Pilots when Shann Ferch made a three-pointer, giving Pepperdine a 68-51 lead at 9:48. But they hadn’t.

Portland fashioned an 11-0 run of its own, one that included a three-pointer and a layup by Johnson, who was 10 of 15 from the field and seven of nine from three-point range.

But Tom Lewis, who finished with 16 points despite a badly bruised shooting arm, hit a 15-foot jumper that ignited a 12-0 spurt by the Waves. When that run ended, the Waves led, 80-62, with 1:54 left, and there was no more fight left in the Pilots.

Asbury said that Lewis and Dexter Howard, who scored a team-high 20 points, had obviously been hampered by injuries. Lewis had hurt his right arm in one of last week’s games, and Howard had sprained his right index finger in practice last week.

“This is the time of year when you have a lot of aches and dings,” Asbury said.

But he added that it is also a good time of year for Pepperdine to bear down and “play a little bit better from here on out.”

Asbury did praise Casey Crawford and Craig Davis. Crawford had nine points and a game-high 15 rebounds. Davis scored 19 points and was seven of 11 from the field and four of six from three-point range.