Pepperdine Finds WCC Friendly, Beats San Diego

SAN DIEGO — The nice thing about college basketball, according to Pepperdine Coach Tom Asbury, is that are plenty of opportunities for redemption.

The Waves began a role toward just that Thursday night with an 88-78 victory over the University of San Diego before 1,734 at the USD Sports Center.

Pepperdine, 6-7 before the conference season, won its third consecutive West Coast Conference opener. The Waves are 1-5 on the road.

“That’s the thing,” Asbury said. “You can have a slow beginning, and there’s always conference play. After that, there’s the conference tournament. There’s always plenty of time to redeem yourself.”

USD, which had won three in a row but was also 6-7 going in, is 1-1 in the WCC.

Pepperdine took a 21-point lead in the first half and withstood a USD charge in the second.

With six minutes 28 seconds left, Pepperdine had a 79-62 lead. USD cut that to 81-73 with 2:29 left, but Pepperdine made five of six free throws down the stretch.

Dexter Howard had a game-high 22 points and career-high 16 rebounds for Pepperdine. Geoff Lear added 16 points; and Craig Davis, who made three three-point baskets in the first half, had 14.

Five Toreros scored in double figures, including three--John Jerome, Wayman Strickland and Kelvin Woods--with 13 points.

The Waves had a 49-23 advantage in rebounding, 29-7 in the first half. Howard had nine first-half rebounds. “That’s a problem we’ve had,” Asbury said. “And we spent a week of preparation on that. If those stats are accurate . . . “

He didn’t need to finish. “We got killed off the boards,” USD Coach Hank Egan said.