Pepperdine Streaks, Struggles to Defeat USF, 100-91

Pepperdine is playing some of its best basketball of the season, but it still had trouble putting away the University of San Francisco Saturday night.

The Waves managed a 100-91 West Coast Conference victory before 2,564 at Firestone Fieldhouse in Malibu, but it wasn’t easy.

USF senior forward Joel DeBortoli gave Pepperdine the most trouble. DeBortoli, who always seems to play his best against the Waves, scored a career-high 32 points, including six-of-12 shooting from three-point range and 12-of-20 shooting overall.

To offset DeBortoli, Pepperdine got a season-high 29 points from Tom Lewis, 21 points from Craig Davis (including four of nine three-point shots) and 24 points and a game-high 10 rebounds from Geoff Lear. Pepperdine is 11-10, 5-3 in conference play.

Pepperdine, which shot 63.6% from the field--far above its season average of 49.5%--led by as many as 14 points in the first half and was ahead at halftime, 51-40.

But the Dons, led by DeBortoli and Shawn Sykes, improved their shooting from 45.2% in the first half to 65.6% in the second.

Sykes scored 11 of his 19 points in the second half, and the Waves began feeling the pressure.

A three-point basket by James Bell cut the deficit to three points with 9:43 remaining. But Pepperdine pulled away again, extending its lead to 79-68 on a layup by Lear.

The Dons (7-13, 3-4) made one more run and got to within four points on Kevin Bell’s 16-foot jump shot with 1:30 remaining. But Kevin Ellis’s three-point basket gave Pepperdine a 92-87 lead.

Lewis padded it with three free throws, and Lear scored five points in the last 26 seconds to secure the victory.

Pepperdine Coach Tom Asbury said that Lewis is regaining his shooting touch after he dislocated the little finger on his right hand in early December and had to have surgery.

“He was hurting so bad for so long with that finger, and it’s still not 100%,” Asbury said.

Asbury said scheduling made this a difficult game for the Waves. “Us playing back-to-back games and them resting (Friday) night--that’s hard,” he said.