Pepperdine Routs Western Washington

If Pepperdine Coach Tom Asbury was expecting Western Washington, an NAIA team, to be a soft touch Friday night, he wasn’t disappointed.

The Waves easily overcame the Vikings, 99-71.

Asbury had a chance to play everyone in uniform, and the Waves were able to work on such things as their set offense, three-point shots, free throws and dunks by Geoff Lear and Dexter Howard.

Lear and Howard each scored 22 points to lead Pepperdine. Terrill Hall had a team-high 18 points for the Vikings.

Asbury said he was pleased that everyone got a chance to play, particularly newcomers Mark Georgeson and Doug Christie.

The coach added that center Georgeson and guard-forward Christie “are going to be so key to us once we get in conference that we’ve got to get them some minutes.”

Asbury said he hoped that Tom Lewis would be ready to play next Wednesday in the Far West tournament at Portland.

Lewis sat out against Western Washington because he had stitches removed Friday from his injured hand.

He suffered a dislocated little finger on his right hand in practice about 10 days ago and played against Kansas and UC Irvine, but had sub-par performances both times.

Asbury is wary of the time Lewis’ hand is taking to heal, saying it could be a “problem for a long time.”

“We gambled and tried to play him in two games, and we lost--and it’s my fault.”

Western Washington went without a field goal for nearly the first seven minutes and fell behind by as many as 16 points in the first half.

Lear scored 14 first-half points on five-of-five shooting, and the Waves led at halftime, 54-43.