Pepperdine Pummels Fresno State, 84-64

Junior guard Doug Christie scored a career-high 23 points to lead Pepperdine to an 84-64 victory over Fresno State Saturday night in the championship game of the Fresno State tournament.

Sophomore forward Steve Guild, starting in place of freshman Dana Jones, who was sidelined because of a hip injury, scored 21 points and had 10 rebounds for the Waves, who scored their first tournament victory since 1985.

The score was 66-57 with 6:05 to play when Pepperdine (2-0) went on a 16-0 run to take an 82-57 lead.

Pepperdine made 46.8% of its shots and was eight of 13 from three-point range. Fresno shot 33.8% from the field and made four of 33 three-point attempts.

Pepperdine forward Geoff Lear had 14 points and 16 rebounds, and freshman center Derek Noether, who played at Clovis West High in Fresno, had 12 points and nine rebounds for the Waves.

Junior forward Tod Bernard led Fresno with 20 points. Guard Dave Barnett added 14 for the Bulldogs (1-1).

Pepperdine scored the first nine points and led, 28-5, with 8:51 left in the half.

Fresno State then scored 13 consecutive points to pull to within 28-18 with 4:09 left. The Waves led at halftime, 39-30.

The Bulldogs closed to within 47-45 with 14:13 left on a rebound basket by Bernard, but a three-pointer by Rodney Sanders and a basket by Rex Manu increased the Waves’ lead to 52-45.