Cold Lopez Warms in the Nick of Time : College basketball: All eight of his points come near end of Pepperdine’s 81-79 victory over George Washington.

Junior guard Damin Lopez struggled through a poor shooting night Wednesday against undefeated George Washington at Firestone Fieldhouse in Malibu.

But Lopez came through when Pepperdine needed him most, scoring all eight of his points in the final four minutes to lead the Waves to an 81-79 victory.

Pepperdine (5-2) won its third game in a row. George Washington (7-1) is off to its best start in 39 years.

Lopez, who made only one of seven shots, tied the score, 67-67, with a three-point basket with 3:54 to play. The Waves went ahead for good, 69-67, on two free throws by reserve forward Steve Guild with 3:32 remaining.

Lopez sealed the victory by making five of six free throws in the final minute.

“He wasn’t having a good game,” Pepperdine Coach Tom Asbury said. “But he’s the kind of guy you want in the game at the end.”

With Lopez struggling, the Waves turned to center Derek Noether and forward Dana Jones. Noether scored a personal-best 23 points, including 11 of 14 free throws, and Jones had 18 points and seven rebounds.

Guild enjoyed his best game of the season with 17 points and seven rebounds.

“That may have been as good of a combined effort as we’ve gotten all year from seven or eight guys,” Asbury said. “That’s one of the best games we’ve played all year.”

After George Washington used the shooting of forwards Bill Brigham and Sonni Holland to take a 40-37 halftime lead, the Colonials increased their advantage to 63-55 on two free throws by guard Dirkk Surles with 8:47 remaining.

But the Waves went on a 17-4 run, capped by guard Steve Clover’s three-point basket with 3:11 to play, to regain the lead.

“We made costly mistakes and that was the difference,” George Washington Coach Mike Jarvis said. “You can’t do that against anyone--especially on the road.”

The Colonials were led by Holland with 24 points and nine rebounds and Brigham with 18 points and eight rebounds.

Highly touted 7-foot-1 freshman center Yinka Dare got into foul trouble and was held scoreless.