Pepperdine Turns Away USD : College basketball: West Coast Conference leader hands Toreros their fourth loss in a row, 71-58.

Batman and Robin. Starsky and Hutch. Steinbrenner and Billy Martin. To any list of dynamic duos, add Pepperdine seniors Doug Christie and Geoff Lear.

The University of San Diego played hard and stayed close but couldn’t prevent the Waves from winning their 25th consecutive West Coast Conference game Saturday, 71-58, in front of 2,986 at Firestone Fieldhouse.

From the opening tip--which resulted in a Christie three-point play--it was too much Christie and Lear for the Toreros, who lost their fourth game in a row and fell to 3-5 in the WCC, 11-10 overall. The Toreros, in second two weeks ago, have dropped into a tie for fifth and have to face the same Waves in their next game, Thursday at home.

Pepperdine, the conference bully the last two seasons, improved to 9-0 in the WCC and 16-6 on the season. The last WCC team to beat Pepperdine was USD, in January, 1991.

Pepperdine remembered. “It was on their minds,” Waves Coach Tom Asbury said, “I keep it on their minds every day.”

Whatever last year’s formula, USD apparently has forgotten it, despite a combined 34 points from its own senior combo of Kelvin Woods (18) and Wayman Strickland (16).

The Toreros had shooting problems--again (42% in the first half, 45.7% for the game), made only 13 of 23 free throws and were outrebounded, 36-21. Lear finished with 24 points and 16 rebounds, Christie with 25 points, nine rebounds and five assists and the Waves shot 49%.

Toreros Coach Hank Egan said Christie and Lear “are a tough combination, they are a handful to deal with. . . . You got any suggestions?”

But he laid some of the blame on his team and his coaching staff for another out-of-sync performance.

“We didn’t execute worth a darn,” he said. “We have to make a decision as to whether or not we’re gonna fight it as a team or as individuals. When you’re 21 games into the season and you’re pleading with your team to take good shots, you’ve got a problem. I thought it was even more evident last night (a 95-80 loss at Loyola Marymount).

“It’s been the same lament--we’re trying to put it back together instead of having it together. It’s a little late for that. There’s a lot of effort going to waste. We played very hard tonight. That can only be half the equation. We can’t go to a Lear or Christie to bail us out. We’ve got to execute.”

The Toreros were fighting from behind from the jump ball. Christie got the Waves off to a fast start, scoring eight of the team’s first 11 points as Pepperdine took an 11-8 lead.

USD caught up at 11-11, but Lear began to throw his weight around inside, drawing seven fouls from the three Torero post men while spurring the Waves on a 9-2 run to a 20-13 lead. Three Toreros eventually fouled out.

USD once again caught up, 25-25, but with Lear controlling things in the middle Pepperdine finished the half with a 9-1 run for a 34-26 halftime edge.

Lear had 13 points and 10 rebounds and Christie 12 points in the half. Woods and Strickland helped keep the Toreros close, combining for 20 points.

The second half was similar, Pepperdine pulling away and USD drawing close, but the Waves always had a counterpunch, invariably from Lear or Christie. Pepperdine built a 51-40 lead midway through the second half before USD made its last concerted run, pulling to within 51-47 on back-to-back three-pointers by Strickland and Chris Grant.

The game’s next five points were scored by Lear, then Christie followed with a jumper. Get the idea?

Woods made seven of 12 shots and Strickland four of six, but Gylan Dottin, in his most frustrating shooting night of the season, was three for 15. Christie and Lear made 17 of 32.

“It was a big weekend for Doug and Geoff. They stepped up like you’d expect ‘em to, they were there down the stretch,” Asbury said. “Maybe we weren’t as pretty or as emotional as we’ve been but USD had something to do with it. They always play us tough here.

But for the Toreros, just hanging tough isn’t getting it done. Can they right things by Thursday?

“Why not?” Egan answered. “We came apart in less time than that. We all need to make a change in attitude.”