Arizona Finally Puts Pepperdine Away : College basketball: Waves trail by only 32-29 at halftime before losing to nation’s fourth-ranked team, 80-66.

Fourth-ranked Arizona had more talent, height and experience, but Pepperdine had more determination Thursday night--at least for much of the game.

But Arizona’s tall, talented and veteran front line eventually wore down the Waves, and the Wildcats won, 80-66, in the Fiesta Bowl tournament before 13,879 at McKale Center.

The Waves (6-5) might not have deserved to have been in the same arena with Arizona (9-1), but they didn’t seem to know it in the first half and part of the second.

Pepperdine not only stayed with Arizona, but stayed ahead for nearly six minutes of the first half. The Waves led, 21-17, with 9:10 remaining in the half. But Arizona led, 32-29, at halftime.

The Waves trailed, 52-50, with 10:24 to play. But Pepperdine’s inside players began to foul out. Arizona began going inside more to Sean Rooks and Brian Williams, and the Wildcats began pulling away.

With Rooks and Williams operating freely inside, Arizona opened its lead to 80-62--its biggest of the game--before giving up two meaningless Pepperdine baskets at the end of the game.

Rooks scored a game-high 26 points and had a game-high 11 rebounds. Williams, who played sparingly in the first half because of foul trouble, finished with 14 points and six rebounds in 23 minutes.

Two Pepperdine starters, forward Geoff Lear and center Derek Noether, and reserve center Rex Manu eventually fouled out of the game.

“Our big guys need to figure out a way to stay in the ballgame,” Pepperdine Coach Tom Asbury said. “We can’t have guys foul out to beat this team.”

Doug Christie led the Waves with 20 points and Lear added 15 points before he fouled out with 4:05 left.

Asbury was asked if he was impressed by his team’s effort.

“If you mean was it a moral victory, no. I can’t buy it. If we are going to play, we are going to play to win.

“You can’t expect to foul out three big men and stay in the game. Our big guys need to figure out a way to stay in the ballgame.”

Arizona Coach Lute Olson, however, was impressed by Pepperdine.

“There is no question that they played harder than what we did in the first half at least,” Olson said. “They outscrapped and outhustled us.

“A lot of credit for this one has to go to Pepperdine. They really came in and played hard and intelligently.”

Asbury said that Arizona was “smart at the end of the game. They did what they had to do: they took it inside and just kicked our rear end.”

Olson said he thought that the “difference for us in the second half was the defensive intensity. It made it harder for them to do what they wanted to do offensively.

“(Matt) Muehlebach and (Khalid) Reeves did a great job for us--Reeves did a fabulous defensive job.

“The stretch that was the best for us was when we had Reeves, Muehlebach and (Wayne) Womack at the perimeter positions. I think the key to the run was the perimeter pressure we put on them.”

In the first game, center Victor Alexander scored a game-high 28 points, including five in overtime, leading Iowa State (3-9) to an 81-79 upset over Temple (4-3).

The lead changed nine times in the second half as both teams went on a three-point shooting binge, with each making four in the first 12:20.

Temple’s All-American guard, Mark Macon, who finished with 26 points, missed three-pointattempts at the end of regulation play and at the end of overtime.

Alexander added a game-high 12 rebounds. Iowa State guard Skip McCoy scored 17 points, including four for six from three-point range. Pepperdine will play Temple and Arizona will play Iowa State on Saturday.