Toreros Fail to Hit Long Shots and Lose to Pepperdine, 72-69

Three times in the last 7 seconds, University of San Diego’s Gylan Dottin launched a three-point shot in a West Coast Athletic Conference tournament first-round game Saturday.

One was off the mark. The other two never had a chance.

Pepperdine’s Marty Wilson, a 6-foot-3 senior guard, blocked two of Dottin’s three-point attempts, the final one coming at the buzzer, and the Waves outlasted USD, 72-69.

“We did enough to get it done at the end,” said Pepperdine Coach Tom Asbury.

Tom Lewis, a two-time All-WCAC selection, led Pepperdine (19-11) by recording game highs of 24 points, nine rebounds and five assists.

“Lewis had a great second half (16 points),” said Asbury. “He played like a real leader.”

For USD (8-20), freshman Kelvin Woods had team-highs of 21 points (on nine-of-11 shooting) and eight rebounds in just 26 minutes. “Kelvin Woods delivered,” said USD Coach Hank Egan. “He really took the ball to the basket.”

Said Asbury: “They have a different guy who just comes out and kicks our butts every time we play them. We think they just draw numbers out of a hat to see who’s going to score on that day.”

Earlier in the season, it was Dondi Bell (14 points on seven-of-seven shooting) who starred in the Waves’ 68-65 victory over USD. Then in the Waves’ 93-73 victory at the USD Sports Center, Craig Cottrell had 25 points on 11 of 14 shooting.

Saturday it was Woods, who scored 14 points in the second half when the Waves switched to a man-to-man defense. “I like playing against their man defense,” said Woods.

Against Pepperdine’s zone defense, USD could do little for the first 15 minutes of the game.

That USD was in position to tie with 7 seconds left was more than a little startling to the crowd of approximately 4,000 in San Francisco’s Memorial Gymnasium.

Leading, 7-6, Pepperdine scored the next eight points. After two Bell baskets, Pepperdine reeled off 12 points in a row over 4:22 to take a 27-10 lead.

The game appeared over. Pepperdine was doing little wrong. And USD looked like it was playing with three freshmen, three sophomores and three upperclassmen--which it was.

But over the final 2:34 of the first half, USD made a 12-2 run to pull within, 32-28, at halftime.

“They could have really folded their tent,” said Asbury.

To begin the second half, Egan had three freshmen (Dottin, Woods and Wayman Strickland), one sophomore (Keith Colvin) and one senior (Efrem Leonard) on the court. Before junior Craig Cottrell replaced Woods with 10:53 left, those five had turned a four-point deficit into a 53-45 lead.

After Pepperdine’s Dexter Howard made the first of two free throws, Cottrell was then fouled by Howard and his shot was interfered with by Casey Crawford. Cottrell made the free throw, completing the rare goaltending/free throw three-point play. And the Toreros had built a rare 10-point lead at 56-46 with 9:55 left.

Then it was Pepperdine’s turn to get hot. Thirteen points in a row over 4:20 gave the Waves a 59-56 advantage with 5:57 left.

With 12 seconds left and the Waves leading, 70-69, Pepperdine freshman guard Rick Welch, a 77% percent free throw shooter, made both ends of a one-and-one to end the scoring, but not the excitement.

After a timeout, USD pushed the ball up court and Dottin was able to get a decent three-point attempt with 7 seconds left. It was long, but the rebound caromed off many hands and wound up out of bounds near mid-court.

Whose ball was it? The referees weren’t quite sure. One pointed in Pepperdine’s direction, the other USD’s. The Toreros were awarded the ball.

The inbounds pass went to Dottin, who let fly with a three-point attempt from in front of USD’s bench. Wilson blocked Dottin’s shot but stepped out of bounds with the ball and 1 second showing on the clock.

Again the inbounds pass went to Dottin, but again, Wilson blocked his shot just after it was released.

“They had a foul to give, so we just had to get off the first one we could,” said Egan. “I was surprised we got off that first one as cleanly as we did.”