COLLEGE BASKETBALL / NCAA MEN’S TOURMAMENT : Waves Go by the Boards : Midwest Regional: Pepperdine comes back in second half, but rebounds make the difference in 80-70 loss to Memphis State.

By halftime Thursday, it was painfully evident that Pepperdine, particularly its starting front line, was in dire need of a wake-up call.

All-West Coast Conference forwards Dana Jones and Geoff Lear had combined for one point and three rebounds. Center Byron Jenson, playing only six minutes, had no points and one rebound. And Memphis State had outrebounded the Waves, 26-13, on its way to a 41-28 halftime lead in the first round of the Midwest Regional.

“Our character was questioned,” said senior guard Doug Christie, who carried Pepperdine in the first half with 14 points. “We had to show whether we were a team or not.”

The Waves responded with a 21-4 surge to open the second half and take the lead, but a more physical and athletic Memphis State team made the necessary plays down the stretch and pulled away for an 80-70 victory before 18,250 at the Bradley Center.

The defeat ended a 12-game winning streak for 11th-seeded Pepperdine, which finished with a 24-7 record. Sixth-seeded Memphis State (21-10) advanced to Saturday’s second round, where it will play a rematch with third-seeded Arkansas (26-7), which defeated Murray State, 80-69. The Tigers defeated Arkansas last month, 92-88.

Led by sophomore forward Anfernee Hardaway, Memphis State weathered Pepperdine’s second-half charge and erased a 55-53 deficit. Hardaway, who had team-high totals of 21 points, eight rebounds and seven assists, gave the Tigers the lead for good at 58-55 on a three-point shot with 7:34 left.

“He really did take over at the end,” Pepperdine Coach Tom Asbury said of Hardaway. “They played flawlessly down the stretch, and (Hardaway) certainly was a big part of it.

“It wasn’t necessarily what we didn’t do in the last five minutes. It’s what they did.”

One of the things Memphis State did best was shoot free throws. After Hardaway had given the Tigers a 70-64 lead on a 15-foot jump shot with 2:21 left, Memphis State finished by making 10 of 12 free throws and wound up making 20 of 23 from the foul line.

“You’ve got to give Memphis State credit,” Asbury said. “They did what they had to do when they had to do it. They went 20 of 23 from the free-throw line, and they made the big shots in the last five or six minutes.”

The Tigers also dominated Pepperdine inside, outrebounding the Waves, 44-24. Memphis State took 19 offensive rebounds.

“One thing we did not do all night was rebound,” said Asbury, whose team had outrebounded opponents by an average of six before the game. “When you get outrebounded by 20, you don’t have to go much further than that (to explain a defeat).

“It’s disappointing because that’s a beatable team for us. We have a very experienced team that didn’t play like it at times.”

Asbury had hoped that the Waves’ NCAA tournament experience--they lost in the first round to Seton Hall last season--would give them an edge against Memphis State. The Tigers were making their first NCAA appearance since 1989 and have a team dominated by underclassmen.

That inexperience showed in the opening seven minutes of the second half, when Pepperdine turned the 13-point halftime deficit into a 49-45 lead, after consecutive baskets by Jones, point guard Damin Lopez and Lear.

“I think, because we had a 13-point lead, we kind of sat back and became too relaxed,” Hardaway said. “Most people on our team took Pepperdine too lightly. Coach (Larry Finch) told us that the game wasn’t over and we had to come back out and play hard. We just didn’t do it.”

Finch responded by benching several starters, among them his nephew, 6-foot-10 freshman forward David Vaughn. The Tigers’ top rebounder and second-leading scorer, Vaughn played only seven minutes and did not score in the second half.

“I thought the best thing to do . . . was get a completely new set of people in there,” Finch said.

Two Memphis State reserves came through with big efforts. Junior forward Kelvin Allen had seven rebounds and a key blocked shot against Lear with about two minutes left, and little-used forward Tim Duncan--a fifth-year senior--scored two baskets in the final six minutes and took down four rebounds.

Christie led Pepperdine with a game-high 23 points. But he missed three consecutive free throws during a critical stretch of the second half, allowing Memphis State to maintain a lead with a little more than seven minutes left.

Another factor in Pepperdine’s fifth consecutive defeat in an NCAA tournament opener was its four-for-17 shooting from three-point range.

“That’s not our team,” Asbury said. “Some nights the rim gets a little smaller, and this was obviously one of them.”

After a dismal first half, Pepperdine’s front line came alive. Jones, a 6-6 sophomore, scored 12 of his 13 points in the second half, and Jenson, a 6-7 junior, scored all nine of his points in the last 20 minutes.

Lear, a 6-8 senior, contributed to the Waves’ comeback with several big defensive plays, but it was not one of his better performances. He finished with seven points and two rebounds, well below his averages of 17.1 and 7.3.