Waves Fall as They Fail to Do Homework
After winning two road games last weekend, Pepperdine’s basketball team was hoping to extend its streak at home Friday night.
Unfortunately for the Waves, Portland had other plans. The Pilots shackled Pepperdine with an aggressive defense and capitalized on a distinct advantage in depth to post a 78-72 West Coast Conference victory before 1,162 at Firestone Fieldhouse.
“They wanted it more than we did,” Pepperdine interim Coach Marty Wilson said. “We weren’t as hungry as we were last weekend, not as aggressive. It surprises me because I think we have a better team than they have.”
Pepperdine, 9-10 overall and 2-5 in conference play, played inspired games in beating Santa Clara and St. Mary’s last weekend. But the Waves appeared flat against Portland, consistently getting beat to loose balls and rebounds.
Portland (13-6, 4-3), playing a tough man-to-man defense, limited Pepperdine to 42.6% shooting, and did an effective job shutting down guard Gerald Brown.
The junior, who entered the game leading the conference in scoring with an 18.8 average, finished with 14 points, but five of them came in the last nine seconds after the game was decided.
“They played all right defense, but we still got some good looks at the basket,” said Brown, who made only six of 15 shots. “Our shots just didn’t fall. We missed too many shots down low.”
With only eight players available, Pepperdine again lost the battle of the benches. Led by forward Rick Brainard’s team-high 15 points, five Portland reserves outscored their Wave counterparts, 34-2.
A layup by Brainard gave Portland a 58-46 lead with 7 minutes 18 seconds left. Pepperdine cut its deficit to five points three times, the last time with 2:44 left when forward Bryan Hill sank a short jump shot to make it 64-59.
After stopping Portland, the Waves missed a chance to pull closer when guard Tezale Archie missed a three-point attempt.
Portland pulled away from there, making 10 of 12 free throws in the final 1:40.
Hill, who had 13 rebounds, and guard Khary Hervey each scored 19 points for Pepperdine.