Pepperdine Resists Titans’ Late Rally : Basketball: Cal State Fullerton’s 13-0 run cuts deficit to two with 4:25 left. But the Waves (5-1) hold on to win, 79-69.

One long shot erased the agony of three futile minutes for Pepperdine and the delight of three fun-filled minutes for Cal State Fullerton Thursday night.

The Titans staged a furious second-half rally, scoring 13 consecutive points to trim a 15-point deficit to two with 4:25 remaining.

But Wave guard Rick Welch nailed a three-point shot to end the drought and send Pepperdine on its way to a 79-69 victory before 1,712 in Titan Gym.

The Waves (5-1) had little trouble breaking Fullerton’s full-court press and shredded the Titans’ zone defense while taking what appeared to be a commanding 65-50 lead with 7:24 left.

But for the next three minutes, Pepperdine could do nothing right. A 10-second backcourt violation, a bad pass and turnover, an offensive foul, a blocked inside shot, a missed free throw, another offensive foul . . . you name it, it went wrong for the Waves.

Fullerton (1-3) took advantage by scoring 13 consecutive points, including seven by Bruce Bowen, to cut the lead to 65-63 with 4:25 to go. Agee Ward had four points during the run, including a short follow shot that cut the lead to two.

It was beginning to look a little like last season’s Fullerton-Pepperdine game, in which the Waves scored 17 consecutive second-half points to erase a 14-point deficit and eventually lost to the Titans in overtime.

But Welch, who was pulled from the starting lineup because Wave Coach Tom Asbury didn’t think he was working hard enough on defense, showed his offensive skills haven’t eroded, hitting a wide-open, three-point shot to give Pepperdine a 68-63 lead.

Ward missed on the other end, and Doug Christie made two foul shots to push the lead to 70-63 with 3:34 left. Geoff Lear, who scored a team-high 20 points, scored six of the Waves’ final nine points to keep Fullerton at a distance.

The Titans had one last hope in the final minute when Ward’s inside basket made it 74-69, but Joe Small’s three-point attempt came up short with 27 seconds left.

“We got a little careless with the lead,” Asbury said. “We were complacent, and we’re not real sharp yet. We’re going to have a lot of games like this, and road games seem to end up this way. But I sure liked Rick shooting that (three-point) shot. I never mind him taking an open shot.”

Welch finished with 15 points and made three of his four three-pointers in the second half. Christie added 16 points and four assists, and Dana Jones had 10 points and 11 rebounds for the Waves, who lost to UCLA, 98-58, Saturday.

Christie keyed Pepperdine’s early second-half surge, answering Small’s three-pointer with a jumper and a three-pointer to start the second half. The Waves opened the half with a 14-5 run and took a 44-34 lead.

Christie also thrilled the crowd with the game’s most athletic play, picking up a loose ball in the key and converting with a reverse slam, on which his head just missed the rim, to give the Waves a 51-42 lead with 12:35 left.

Fullerton’s Small scored 22 points but made only nine of 23 field-goals attempts, including two of nine three-pointers. Bowen, who had scored only 12 points over the two previous games, came on strong with 20 points and eight rebounds, and Ward finished with 13 points.

“I was pleased we had the ability to come back and cut the lead to three, but at the same time, we’ve got to go back to the drawing board from an offensive standpoint,” Fullerton Coach John Sneed said.

The Waves, who have played mostly man-to-man defense this season, surprised the Titans by playing zone for much of the second half. Fullerton had trouble penetrating and breaking free for open shots, and most of its points during the 13-0 run came off the transition game or after offensive rebounds.

“We had some real dead spots,” Sneed said. “Our zone offense was stale--we didn’t get inside and we didn’t overload. We spent a lot of time working on man-to-man offense and figured we’d only see the zone on out-of-bounds plays.”