Pepperdine Overtakes Loyola in Overtime

Pepperdine, overcoming a 13-point second-half deficit, rallied for an improbable 74-65 overtime victory over Loyola Marymount on Saturday night before 2,417 at Firestone Fieldhouse in Malibu.

The Waves, 7-11 overall and 3-3 in the West Coast Conference, never led until forward Clark James scored on a driving layup for the first points of overtime, continuing an 11-0 run by Pepperdine that spanned the last 90 seconds of regulation and the first 2:30 of overtime.

Loyola, an 80-69 winner over Pepperdine on Wednesday night, made 60% of its shots in building a 41-30 halftime lead and seemed to be in good position to sweep the Waves for the first time since the 1987-88 season.

But the Lions (10-8, 2-4) made only five shots after Robin Kirksey scored to give them a 49-36 lead with 14:14 to play in regulation.

Loyola made only 20% of its shots after halftime, with junior center Ime Oduok, the conference leader with a .604 field-goal percentage before the game, missing all 12 of his attempts, all from inside the key.

“We got a lot of good looks,” Loyola Coach John Olive said, “but we just couldn’t put the shots in the basket.”

The Waves were led by Gerald Brown’s career-high 28 points.