Pepperdine Keeps Rolling in Conference : College basketball: Waves beat San Diego, 79-67, for 26th WCC victory in a row.

Pepperdine beat the University of San Diego, 79-67, Thursday night at the Sports Center for its 26th West Coast Conference victory in a row.

The conference record of 31 consecutive victories was set by the Bill Russell-led USF teams of the mid-1950s.

This victory wasn’t as easy as the Waves’ 71-58 victory over Toreros in Malibu Saturday, with Pepperdine (17-6, 10-0) leading by just one point with five minutes remaining before pulling away.

“The streak starts to wear on you,” Pepperdine Coach Tom Asbury said. “It affects how you play, how you think. I’m proud of the guys ‘cause we probably played down a tick and won.”

As usual, Pepperdine was led by seniors Doug Christie and Geoff Lear.

Lear led all scorers with with 28 points, making 11 of 16 shots, and had a game-high 10 rebounds. Christie had 23 points.

San Diego (11-11, 3-6) was led by Kelvin Woods, who had 18 points and made all 10 of his free throws.

Pepperdine outshot the Toreros, 56% to 48%, and dominated the rebounding, 34-19.

Still, San Diego was tied with Pepperdine at 56-56 with 6:37 to play. But the Waves went on a 9-2 run, with Lear scoring five in the spurt.

“Lear and Christie step up at the end, as we expect them to do,” Asbury said. “The way we run our offense, we don’t say, ‘Doug and Geoff, take over.’ It just works that way. The players know who gets the job done.”

San Diego Coach Hank Egan said, “We were in this game a lot longer (than Saturday). “I don’t think the score was indicative of the way the game was. It was a war right down to the end, I thought. The two big guys have really decided to rise up. Lear and Christie have taken over just about every game in conference.”

The Toreros, playing without flu-ridden center Brooks Barnhard, held several leads and trailed, 35-34, at halftime.

The game was tied three times in the second half and San Diego trailed by five points with 2:17 remaining. But Lear scored off an inbounds pass, and Christie rebounded a missed free throw and was fouled, following with two free throws that gave the Waves a 73-64 lead with 1:08 remaining.