Pepperdine Hangs On, Defeats San Jose State

Even with an incredible game by Gerald Brown, the Pepperdine basketball team needed an incredible shot by Marques Johnson to beat San Jose State, 80-76, in a nonconference game Saturday afternoon.

Johnson, 22 feet from the basket with three seconds on the shot clock, swished a desperation shot as he was fouled with 46 seconds to play.

He converted the four-point play to turn a three-point lead into a seven-point lead, taking the air out of the Spartans and the 1,015 in attendance.

“I wasn’t really trying to make it,” Johnson said with a smile. “I was just trying to draw a foul. I knew I was off balance. I was praying.”

The Waves (6-3) were in position to win, though, because of Brown, who scored a career-high 35 points, making 14 of 16 shots, including four of four from three-point range.

But without San Jose State Coach Stan Morrison’s help, the Waves might have come up short.

After Roy Hammonds, who scored 31 points, made a layup to pull San Jose State within 78-76 with three seconds left, Morrison called a timeout, even though the Spartans had no timeouts.

Morrison said after the game he knew his team was out of timeouts, but he wanted to stop the clock, even if it meant taking a technical foul. He was afraid the Waves could run out the clock without inbounding the ball.

Morrison, a former USC coach, forgot that a recent rule change calls for the clock to stop after made baskets in the final minute of regulation.

“That was a mistake on my part,” said Morrison, whose team dropped to 1-6.