Gonzaga Shows Waves Why It’s on Top, 70-48 : College basketball: Poor second half leaves Pepperdine with its worst WCC home loss since 1973.

Just when everything appeared to be falling into place, Pepperdine’s basketball team took a giant step backward Saturday night against West Coast Conference leader Gonzaga.

In one of their worst outings ever at home, the Waves absorbed a 70-48 loss to Gonzaga before 3,296 in Malibu.

How bad was it?

It was their worst WCC home loss since a 96-71 defeat by San Francisco in 1973 at Veterans Memorial Auditorium in Culver City--the final season before Firestone Fieldhouse opened.

It was also their worst home loss since an 88-62 defeat by Kansas in the 1990-91 season.

And it was their lowest point total since they lost, 67-46, to UC Santa Barbara in the opening game of the 1989-90 season.

“It was a good, old-fashioned butt-kicking, that’s all it was,” Pepperdine Coach Tom Asbury said.

The game didn’t start out that way for the Waves (12-8, 4-4). Although Gonzaga led most of the way, Pepperdine trimmed its deficit to 28-25 by halftime.

But the Bulldogs (15-5, 7-1) went on an 11-2 run at the start of the second half and never led by fewer than nine points the rest of the way.

The victory was especially satisfying for Gonzaga Coach Dan Fitzgerald, who recorded his first success in 11 tries at Malibu.

“We’ve played some great games here and lost,” he said. “Tonight, I thought we just played a great second half. To come in and hold them to (23) points is really remarkable.”

The Waves made 37% of their shots in the second half, and guards Damin Lopez and Bryan Parker were a combined 5 of 24 in the game. Gonzaga made 62.1% of its shots in the second half.

Center Jeff Brown scored 22 points and guard Geoff Goss 15 for Gonzaga.