Better Pepperdine Play Means Only Closer Loss to Portland

Pepperdine, after absorbing its most lopsided home loss in 17 years on Friday night against Gonzaga, rebounded with a strong effort Saturday night in a 72-65 defeat by Portland before 1,532 at Firestone Fieldhouse.

“We had a real intense walk-through today,” said Pepperdine Coach Tony Fuller, none too thrilled with Friday night’s 86-61 loss. “We did some soul-searching, talked about pride in our performance.”

It didn’t result in victory, but Fuller was much happier.

Portland, 16-6 overall and 7-3 in the West Coast Conference, withstood a 17-6 run by Pepperdine (7-15, 3-7) at the start of the second half, answered with a 12-2 run to take a 50-46 lead and never trailed again.

“Our kids were really tired,” said Coach Rob Chavez, whose team was defeated by Loyola Marymount in double overtime Friday. “They expended a lot of energy last night, not only physically but emotionally. And then to have to think about it all day, it took us a while to get our focus.”

Canaan Chatman led the Pilots with 23 points, including a three-point play that made the score 60-57 with 3:35 to play, and center Curt Ranta scored 21.

Monte Marcaccini and Gerald Brown each scored 21 points for Pepperdine, combining to make seven of 12 three-point shots.