Pepperdine Comes On in a Big Stretch Run : WCC tournament: Waves use 15-0 burst in final five minutes to put away Portland, 97-83, and tie San Francisco’s record winning streak.

Like a tall timber about to be felled, Pepperdine nearly saw its season come crashing down in the Pacific Northwest on Saturday.

The top-seeded Waves, who might need to win the West Coast Conference tournament to gain an NCAA tournament bid, trailed by three points with 5:30 to play against Portland, the WCC’s last-place team.

But instead of falling, Pepperdine picked itself up with a 15-0 surge over the next 3 1/2 minutes to pull away for a 97-83 victory in the first round of the WCC tournament before 1,708 at Portland’s Chiles Center.

The Waves will play the University of San Francisco, whose record for consecutive conference victories they will be trying to break, in the semifinals at 7:30 tonight.

Senior forward Geoff Lear, hindered for most of the game with a jammed thumb suffered in warm-ups, scored nine of his 23 points during the late run to help Pepperdine improve to 22-6 and post its 31st consecutive conference victory, tying the record set by USF from 1954 to 1957.

“I don’t know if we deserved to win, but we won, and that’s what counts,” said senior guard Doug Christie, who led the Waves with game-high totals of 27 points and nine rebounds. “I credit the win to Geoff. He stepped up his game in the last four minutes.”

Portland (10-18) gave Pepperdine all it could handle for most of the game. The Pilots, led by junior forward Grant Tracy (24 points, eight rebounds) and senior guard Peter McKelvey (21 points), led by as many as 10 points during the first half and took a 77-74 lead with 5:58 left on a layup by forward Brenton Moore.

From that point on, however, the Waves outscored Portland by 23-6, holding the Pilots without a point for more than four minutes.

“I thought our kids played very hard and very smart,” Portland Coach Larry Steele said. “I thought we made some good decisions for about 35 minutes, then we got into a flat period and we couldn’t pull it off.”

Steele said Portland’s performance showed that Pepperdine can be beaten, despite its 15-0 record against WCC competition this season.

“I think opponents in the next two rounds are going to go in thinking they can beat Pepperdine,” said Steele, who also stressed that it will take a great effort to upset the Waves because of their poise and consistency.

“Pepperdine can get beat, but I don’t think they are going to beat themselves,” he said.

It was more a matter of Portland playing an exceptional game than Pepperdine playing a poor one. The Waves shot 64.5% during the first half, but trailed, 51-50. And it would have been more if point guard Damin Lopez had not made a 30-foot shot as the half ended.

“(Portland) played with a completely different level of emotion than we’ve seen from them,” said Pepperdine Coach Tom Asbury, whose team beat the Pilots by 21 and 23 points during the regular season. “If that was my team, they wouldn’t be hanging their heads at all. They played very, very well.”

McKelvey helped Portland get off to a good start by making four of eight three-point shots and scoring 19 points during the first half. But he scored only two points on one-for-11 shooting during the second half after Pepperdine went to a zone defense to protect Christie, who had three fouls during the first half.

“We settled down and played much better defense,” Asbury said. “Strategically, the zone helped us in the second half. I think it took them out of what they wanted to do. They don’t like the zone very well, it seemed.”

Steele, however, said it was the officiating that bothered him the most. Pepperdine was called for only three fouls in the second half and Christie played 18 minutes without picking up a fourth foul.

“I think that’s highly unusual,” Steele said. “We were told (by the officials) to take it like men and shut up, so that’s what we did.”

The lead changed hands four times during the second half before Pepperdine finally put the game away with its closing spurt. Lear started the run with a basket off an offensive rebound with 5:27 left, pulling the Waves within 77-76. The 6-foot-8, 245-pound Lear worked inside for two more baskets and made three free throws during the next three minutes.

With two minutes to play, Pepperdine’s lead had grown to 89-77 on a free throw by Lopez. The sophomore point guard finished with 12 points and a game-high eight assists, and did an effective defensive job on McKelvey during the second half.

Center Bryon Jenson added 15 points for Pepperdine and forward Dana Jones had 14 as all five Wave starters scored in double figures. Pepperdine got only six points from its reserves, all by forward Steve Guild.

* EARLY EXIT

Loyola Marymount is eliminated from the West Coast Conference tournament, losing to the University of San Francisco, 100-85. C4