Pepperdine Heads to BYU Championship Game

Gerald Brown scored 10 of his game-high 28 points during a late 13-1 run to lead Pepperdine to a 62-55 victory over Auburn in the first round of Brigham Young basketball tournament Friday night.

The Waves (5-2), who broke an eight-game losing streak in the first round of holiday tournaments dating to 1992, will play BYU in the championship game tonight.

Brown, a senior guard, made eight of 13 shots and also led Pepperdine with seven rebounds. Junior guard Jelani Gardner added 12 points.

Auburn (5-2), which had a five-game winning streak broken, led 44-43 on Mamadou N’Diaye’s hook shot with 7:55 to play.

But Brown answered with a jump shot and a layup to put Pepperdine ahead for good.

“I think teams tend to overlook Gerald Brown,” Wave Coach Lorenzo Romar said. “Gerald made some big plays late in the game. I don’t think BYU will overlook Gerald.”

Pepperdine also got a lift from reserve forward Marc McDowell, whose three-point basket gave the Waves a 50-45 lead with 4:55 left. They were his only points of the game.

“He made the biggest shot of the game,” Romar said of McDowell.

Pepperdine used 10 points from Brown during a 20-5 run to build a 32-16 lead with five minutes remaining in the first half.

But Auburn answered with 10 straight points and trailed just 32-26 on N’Diaye’s dunk with 28 seconds left in the half.

Pepperdine led, 34-26, at the half after Gardner made an 18-foot shot with five seconds remaining.