Waves Get at Least a Title Tie : College basketball: Pepperdine beats sloppy Loyola, 80-54, to earn a share of third consecutive league crown.

The Pepperdine basketball team has had its share of slow starts this season, but it didn’t take the Waves long to put away Loyola Marymount on Saturday night.

The Waves led by as many as 31 points and coasted to an 80-54 victory before 3,279 at Firestone Fieldhouse in Malibu.

With second-place Gonzaga’s loss Saturday night to Santa Clara, the Waves (19-5, 10-2) also clinched at least a tie for their third consecutive West Coast Conference title.

It was the biggest conference victory this season for Pepperdine and the worst loss for Loyola (7-17, 2-10) this season. It was also Loyola’s worst loss to Pepperdine since a 104-71 defeat in 1979.

“That may be as well as we’ve played in a while,” Pepperdine Coach Tom Asbury said. “It’s as emotional as we’ve played in a long time.”

After the Lions made the score 2-2 on a basket by forward Wyking Jones, Pepperdine went on a 16-2 run, and things only got worse for Loyola after that.

“They just knocked us out,” Loyola Coach John Olive said. “They were more physical than us and they were more aggressive than us. They were at the top of their game right from the start.”

Pepperdine opened a 44-17 lead on a layup by guard Damin Lopez with 1:35 remaining in the half and was ahead by 44-22 at halftime.

Loyola committed 22 turnovers and shot only 37.3%.

In one of their best shooting displays of the season, meanwhile, the Waves made 59.6%,including six of 13 three-point attempts. They also outrebounded the Lions, 34-26.

Pepperdine also had four players score in double figures, led by center Derek Noether and forward Byron Jenson with 16 points each. Guard Steve Guild added 14 points and forward Dana Jones had 10 points and a game-high eight rebounds.

“On the way out here tonight, I was thinking it was important for us to put two big halves together,” Asbury said. “We got a little sloppy at times in the second half. But all in all, we played very well.”

With the return of guard Lopez, who scored nine points and added five assists in his second game back since returning from a broken hand, Noether said the Waves have picked up their play a notch.

“We realize that we’re a pretty good team and we should play like this all the time,” Noether said.

“I think now that we have Damin back, we can show everyone how good we can be.”