USF Caught in the Waves’ Surge, 92-67

Pepperdine takes pride in its balanced scoring, with five players who are averaging in double figures.

But the Waves used an unbalanced offense Saturday night to rout the University of San Francisco, 92-67, before 2,417 at Memorial Gymnasium.

Dexter Howard and Tom Lewis did most of the damage in the early going, and it proved to be irreparable. Howard, making his last appearance in a Pepperdine uniform before a crowd in his hometown, scored 16 of his 19 points, and Lewis had 16 of his 20 points in the first half.

In the second half, the balance shifted to Craig Davis and Geoff Lear. Davis scored 11 of his 15 points, and Lear had 10 of his 14 points and seven of 10 rebounds.

Pepperdine (13-10, 7-3 in the West Coast Conference) has won six of its last seven games. USF is 7-16, 3-7.

Howard scored nine points in the first 6 1/2 minutes of the game, but the Dons kept it close early.

But an 11-point outburst by Lewis midway through the first half seemed to take the Dons out of the game.

The Waves were leading, 25-22, and Lewis made two free throws and followed with a three-point shot.

Kevin Ellis answered with a driving layup, cutting the deficit to 30-24.

But Lewis made two consecutive three-pointers, giving the Waves a 36-24 lead. USF never recovered.

The Waves built their lead to 43-24 and had a 48-36 advantage at halftime.

In the second half, USF switched from a zone to a man-to-man defense. That opened up the inside for Davis and Lear. Lear, who didn’t take a free throw in the first half made eight of 10 in the second half.

USF forward Joel DeBortoli, who scored 32 points against the Waves last week in Malibu and had 92 points in his previous three games, was held to nine points, including only two points in the second half.

Pepperdine Coach Tom Asbury said DeBortoli “really hurt us the last time, so we really concentrated on defending him this time.”

Asbury said that he didn’t believe USF’s Friday night loss to Loyola Marymount softened up the Dons.

“We played last night, and they did too,” Asbury said. “They may have expended more energy than we did--I don’t know.

“It seems to me that the games are a lot easier on the kids than practices.”

Ellis and Shawn Sykes each scored 13 points for the Dons.