Pepperdine Rolls Past UC Santa Barbara, 72-60

Pepperdine’s basketball team erased memories of last season’s rout at the hands of UC Santa Barbara, beating the Gauchos, 72-60, before 2,659 at Firestone Fieldhouse in Malibu Tuesday night.

The Waves won their third consecutive game this season. Santa Barbara was playing its season-opener.

The Waves, 67-46 losers to the Gauchos last season, made only 60% of their free throws (18 for 30) and committed 19 turnovers. But the Gauchos committed 18 turnovers and made only 52.6% (10 for 19) from the free-throw line.

Tom Asbury, who won his first game against Santa Barbara in three tries as Pepperdine’s coach, said he wasn’t surprised that it was a sloppy game.

“Santa Barbara is so sound and so physical that they make you look real sloppy,” Asbury said.

The Waves never trailed and were tied only twice, early in the second half.

The closest that Santa Barbara got late was when Lucius Davis, who finished with 20 points, made a three-point shot that cut the lead to 62-57 with 1:44 remaining. Gary Gray also had 20 points for the Gauchos.

But Damin Lopez made four of four throws down the stretch, and Pepperdine pulled steadily away.

Asbury said his players were called for traveling about nine times after not committing that error in either of Pepperdine’s first two games.

Geoff Lear had 16 points and a game-high 13 rebounds for Pepperdine. But he also had eight turnovers, including three on traveling calls.

Asbury let Lear know from the bench that he was making too many mistakes. But the coach added, “I’ll tell you what, when he gets the ball inside, he makes me real happy.”

Doug Christie led Pepperdine with 19 points.