Pepperdine Loses by Long Distance

Pepperdine’s run of success in the West Coast Conference tournament came to a crashing halt against Santa Clara on Monday night at the University of San Francisco’s Memorial Gym.

Behind the outside shooting of guards Steve Nash and Mark Schmitz, the Broncos won the conference tournament title with a come-from-behind 73-63 victory over the Waves.

The victory gave Santa Clara (18-11) its first WCC tournament title since 1989 and a berth in the NCAA playoffs, and it ended Pepperdine’s string of two consecutive tournament titles and its nine-game tournament winning streak.

The loss also might have ended Pepperdine’s hopes of reaching the NCAA tournament for the third season in a row. The Waves are 22-7.

Nash made four three-pointers in the second half and scored a game-high 23 points, and Schmitz made two three-pointers in the second half and finished with 18 points.

The Broncos made all nine of their three-point shots in the second half and 13 of 21 overall.

It was Santa Clara’s ninth victory in its last 10 games and marked the team’s 14th in its last 15 games at Memorial Gym.

“We were not very efficient offensively,” Pepperdine Coach Tom Asbury said. “We were just not as smooth as I would have hoped, and you’ve got to give credit to Santa Clara. They just played a terrific game.”

Pepperdine got off to a fast start behind the outside shooting of guard Damin Lopez.

Lopez, who did not play in either of Pepperdine’s regular-season games against the Broncos, scored 10 of the Waves’ first 21 points to give Pepperdine an early lead.

Behind the shooting of Lopez and forward Byron Jenson, the Waves opened up a 19-5 lead in the first six minutes of the game.

Pepperdine also grabbed the first 11 rebounds behind Jenson and forward Dana Jones.

Lopez, who led the Waves with 20 points, wound up scoring 15 in the first half, after which which Pepperdine led, 32-26.

Then came Santa Clara’s long-range work in the second half.

“They just executed better than we did (in the second half),” Asbury said. “They hit some big shots and played very well down the stretch. We just didn’t hit enough shots to take care of business.”

Santa Clara had been picked to finish seventh in the conference in preseason polls.