Things Balance Out for Pepperdine

Funny what a little success can do. Monday night it brought smiles to Coach Lorenzo Romar and his Pepperdine basketball players, who discovered they may be better than their disastrous season opener indicated.

Pepperdine (1-1) used aggressive defense and a much-improved offensive effort for an 81-67 nonconference victory over UC Santa Barbara before 1,336 at Firestone Fieldhouse, breaking an eight-game home losing streak.

Friday, little went right for the Waves in an 80-54 loss at Weber State.

“I’d say it was a 110% better [defensive] effort,” said guard Marques Johnson, who led five Waves in double figures with 20 points. “Coach Romar stresses defense in every game, every practice. Defense is going to be the key.”

It certainly was against Santa Barbara (1-1), which committed 18 turnovers, shot 42.6% and was out of the game midway through the second half after falling behind, 59-40.

Johnson, a senior from Flint, Mich., ignited the Waves late in the first half. His back-to-back steals against UCSB guard Matt Stock led to a breakaway layup and a free throw, after an intentional foul. Johnson scored nine points during a 14-5 stretch that gave Pepperdine a 28-16 lead with 4:30 left in the half.

“Marques Johnson has some of the quickest feet I’ve ever seen,” Romar said. “I’ve played against him and I wouldn’t want to bring the ball up against him.”

Pepperdine finished with 10 steals, three by backup guard Khary Hervey.

“Our pressure on the ball was a catalyst,” Romar said.

Johnson, who made seven of 11 shots and three of five from three-point range, also led the Waves with four assists. Tommie Prince scored 15 points, Bryan Hill had 14 points and eight rebounds, and Marc McDowell had 10 points, 10 rebounds and two blocks. Eric Griffin also scored 10.

“We shared the ball with a lot more patience and we did a good job of boxing out,” Romar said.