Waves Win to Keep the Streak Alive : College basketball: Pepperdine again overcomes loss of Christie, winning the WCC title over St. Mary’s, 71-68

The question before Monday night’s championship game in the West Coast Conference tournament at Toso Pavilion was which team would make a better representative for the WCC in the NCAA tournament.

Should it be Pepperdine, which entered the game with a 15-game winning streak and a 22-8 record but only nine players, including two freshman who seldom had played this season?

Or should it be St. Mary’s, whose coach, Paul Landreaux, left the team after the Gaels started the season 6-9 before conference play, but which finished in a tie for fourth under interim Coach Dave Fehte?

The question was answered in overtime as the Waves beat St. Mary’s, 71-68, earning the WCC’s automatic bid to the NCAA tournament.

The teams played each other three times this season, and Pepperdine won all three--but by a combined total of only eight points.

Geoff Lear led the Waves with a career-high 32 points and was voted the tournament’s most valuable player. He scored 21 of his points in the second half as short-handed Pepperdine rallied with a makeshift lineup.

The Gaels (13-17) opened a 53-43 lead about eight minutes into the second half before Pepperdine (22-8) battled back.

The Waves went on a 12-2 run, finished off by Lear’s three-point play with 7:51 to play that tied the score at 55-55. Lear scored seven points during the burst.

The Waves took a 65-63 lead on a three-point basket by Steve Guild with 1:07 left in regulation play. It was the Waves’ first lead of the second half.

A 15-foot jump shot by Thurman Watson tied the score at 65-65, sending the game into overtime.

Lear scored four points in overtime, and a 10-foot bank shot by Dana Jones with 45 seconds to play ended the scoring. St. Mary’s missed two three-point attempts in the final seconds.

As Lear came on the court during introductions, he gave a kiss on the cheek to teammate Doug Christie, who was standing on crutches with the team’s cheerleaders.

Christie, the WCC’s most valuable player, suffered torn cartilage in his right knee against Portland in the opening round of the conference tournament.

And Christie was not the only casualty for Pepperdine, which had only nine players in uniform for the game.

Rick Welch, the Waves’ starting point guard, played Monday on an ankle he twisted in the semifinal victory Sunday evening against the University of San Francisco.

And less than four minutes into the championship game, Pepperdine starting center Derek Noether fell while battling for a rebound, limped off the court and was taken to the dressing room. He did not return to the game.

Darrell Daniel led St. Mary’s with 15 points.