It’s Nearly Ebb Tide for Waves : WCC tournament: They barely beat San Francisco, 67-65, to set record for conference winning streak.

Pepperdine, with the help of an official’s controversial call, turned desperation into salvation Sunday night at the West Coast Conference basketball tournament.

Wave point guard Damin Lopez was fouled making a long pass from barely inside the half-court line and sank two free throws with no time remaining to give the Waves a 67-65 semifinal victory over the University of San Francisco before 1,545 at the University of Portland’s Chiles Center.

Pepperdine (23-6), which set a WCC record with its 32nd consecutive conference victory, will play Gonzaga at 9 tonight for the tournament championship. The Waves broke the record of 31 consecutive conference victories set by the Dons from 1954 to 1957.

“To have a streak like we’ve had you have to have some games like this,” Pepperdine Coach Tom Asbury said. “I’ve been on both the winning and losing side of games like that, and tonight we were fortunate to be on the winning side.”

Lopez was fouled by Don forward Tim Owens after Owens had missed an outside shot with the score tied, 65-65. Lopez got a long rebound and dribbled into the front court, where official Dallas Plater called Owens for hitting Lopez across the arm.

At the time, it appeared Lopez was putting up a desperation shot, but he later said that he was attempting to pass to teammate Doug Christie.

“I tried to pass the ball (to Christie) and got bumped,” Lopez said. “It was a gutsy call by the official, but I thought I was fouled.”

Don Coach Jim Brovelli was angered by the call.

“I’m one of the biggest supporters of officials in this league, but in this game I feel sorry for the kids,” Brovelli said. “Let the kids play the game and decide the outcome. This was a crime.”

Plater defended his call.

“(Owens) went across (Lopez’s) arm on the shot,” the official said. “It was like any other shot before the buzzer. It was clearly a foul in my opinion.”

Senior forward Geoff Lear led the Waves with 20 points and sophomore forward Dana Jones added 16, including two free throws with 29 seconds remaining to create the tie.

Christie, Pepperdine’s leading scorer, was in foul trouble for much of the game and finished with only 10 points.

The Dons (13-16) rallied from a 63-59 deficit in the final two minutes behind reserve forward Tomas Thompson, who made a three-point shot with 1:42 remaining to pull the Dons within 63-62 and made another with 44 seconds left to give them a 65-63 lead.

Thompson, who set an NCAA record by making all eight of his three-point attempts Saturday night during a 100-85 victory over Loyola Marymount, made six of 11 three-pointers against Pepperdine and finished with 20 points.

Gonzaga 54, Santa Clara 51--Senior guard Jarrod Davis scored a season-high 32 points, including four free throws in the final 14 seconds, to lead the Bulldogs in the other semifinal.

Gonzaga (20-9) became the first team in WCC history to win 20 games within two seasons of losing 20. The Bulldogs were 8-20 in 1990 and had never won a WCC tournament game before Saturday.

Davis scored 23 points during the second half and Gonzaga’s last 16 points. His two one-and-one free throws put the Bulldogs ahead to stay, 52-48, with 14 seconds to play.

After a three-point shot by Santa Clara forward Pete Eisenreich pulled the Broncos (14-15) within one point, Davis was fouled and made two one-and-one free throws with five seconds left to account for the final score.