The Time Is Right for Waves

Throughout Pepperdine’s seven-game losing streak, Coach Lorenzo Romar tried to keep his players’ spirits up by preaching that a breakthrough was near.

It took one last sermon Friday night for the Waves to finally answer the call.

Romar’s timeout midway through the first half, after Pepperdine had fallen five points behind Division II Cal State Hayward, halted his team’s lackadaisical play and spurred the Waves to a 77-59 nonconference victory at Firestone Fieldhouse.

“I was upset,” Romar said. “We can live with missed shots and missed free throws, but when there’s no concentration or intensity, that’s not what you want.”

Pepperdine (2-8) responded with a 19-4 run to take a 35-25 lead and was never threatened thereafter. Center Bryan Hill, who finished with 22 points and 11 rebounds, scored the Waves’ first 13 points of the run on a variety of inside moves that befuddled a soft Hayward front line.

“Coach told us to go back out and play hard,” Hill said. “It feels great. This a game we needed to win.”

The 6-foot-8 Hill made eight of nine shots on his way to 18 first-half points, helping Pepperdine take a 39-29 lead at intermission.

“I felt their center [6-10 Scott Saber] couldn’t hold me inside,” Hill said. “He was kind of slow and I tried to take advantage of that.”

Hayward (5-4) concentrated on stopping Hill in the second half, when the Waves turned to the outside shooting of Marques Johnson. The senior guard scored all 11 of his points in the second half, including three three-point baskets.

Pepperdine, winning for the first time since beating UC Santa Barbara on Nov. 25, had two other players score in double figures. Marc McDowell contributed 12 points and nine rebounds and Tommie Prince had 10 points.