Pepperdine Steals One From Fullerton

On a night Pepperdine would have had trouble throwing a basketball in the nearby ocean, at least it came to play defense.

The Waves weathered another poor shooting performance by stopping Cal State Fullerton with four steals in the final two minutes en route to a 65-61 victory Tuesday night before 1,323 at Firestone Fieldhouse.

Pepperdine (4-1) made only 22 of 58 field goals (37.9%)--shooting under 40% for the third time in five games--but guard Jelani Gardner scored 16 of his 20 points in the second half and defense did the rest.

“With the exception of a stretch in the first half, I thought we played exceptional defense,” said Wave Coach Lorenzo Romar, whose team limited Fullerton to 20-of-60 (33.3%) shooting. “It wasn’t pretty on the offensive end, but we got it done at the other end.”

Forward Kelvin Gibbs, making his first start of the season in place of omm’A Givens, sparked a late Pepperdine run by poking the ball away from Fullerton guard Chris Dade to set up his own alley-oop dunk on a pass from Tezale Archie, giving the Waves a 57-53 lead with 1:53 to play.

Another Wave steal on Fullerton’s next possession led to a put-back basket by Bryan Hill and a 59-53 lead with 1:15 left.

The Titans (3-2), who had a three-game winning streak broken, pulled to within 61-58 on a three-point play by Dade, but Archie and Gardner each made two free throws to put Pepperdine ahead, 65-58, with 25.6 seconds left.

Archie, a junior guard who missed the Waves’ first three games because of a pulled stomach muscle, had three steals in 15 minutes.

“I felt Kelvin Gibbs and Tezale Archie were the MVPs of the game,” Romar said. “They defended and provided continuity in our offense. If they don’t play tonight, we don’t win the game.”

Gibbs, a 6-foot-7 redshirt freshman, finished with six points and 10 rebounds. Romar said Gibbs would continue to start in place of Givens, a 6-11 transfer from UCLA who has struggled.

“[Gibbs] is our best defensive player in the front line and our best post passer,” Romar said.

Fullerton took a 35-34 halftime lead by making eight of 12 three-point shots. The Titans cooled off in the second half, making two of 10 shots from behind the arc and eight of 28 overall.

Dade led all scorers with 21 points, including three three-point baskets.