Pepperdine Beats UC Santa Barbara, 53-50

After losing to Santa Clara in the West Coast Conference tournament final and being passed up for the NCAA playoffs, there was some question as to how Pepperdine would play against UC Santa Barbara in the National Invitation Tournament.

The Waves answered Friday night, leading most of the way to hand the Gauchos a 53-50 defeat Friday night before 5,238 at the Thunderdome.

“It was a disappointment to get beat (in the WCC final), but by the same token you have to put that behind and be ready to play in a tournament like this,” Pepperdine Coach Tom Asbury said. “We’re not embarrassed to be in the NIT. We think it’s a great tournament.”

The victory, Pepperdine’s first in the NIT since 1989 and its first at the Thunderdome since 1984, moves the Waves (23-7) into a second-round game against USC (17-11) on Monday night at the Sports Arena. Santa Barbara finished at 18-11.

The first half took on a pattern similar to the first game between the teams at Malibu in December, when the Gauchos fell behind in the first half before winning, 60-55. Pepperdine led most of the first half, extending its lead to eight points twice before settling for a 29-23 halftime lead.

The Waves were bolstered by the play of reserve forward LeRoi O’Brien, who scored all six of his points in the final six minutes of the half. It was O’Brien’s tip-in with 33 seconds remaining in the half that gave Pepperdine a 29-21 lead.

Pepperdine made only 41.4% of its shots during the first half, but held a 26-19 rebounding edge.

But that is where any similarity with the previous game ended.

This time, the Waves extended their lead to 10 points early in the second half and never trailed in the period.

“I think the difference was that we played a little harder here than we did in Malibu, particularly in the second half,” Asbury said. “We watched the tapes of that game and we didn’t feel as if we worked as hard in that game as we should have.”

Pepperdine was led by forwards Dana Jones and Steve Guild and Parker with 11 points each. The only player who scored in double figures for Santa Barbara was reserve forward Duane Carter, with 10.