Waves Start Out at Low Tide

As far as coming-out parties go, this one was a dud.

A revamped Pepperdine basketball team looked suspiciously like the old one Tuesday night in its opener, struggling against a UC Irvine team that was 1-25 last season for a 50-46 victory before 2,268 at the Bren Center.

Poor shooting and turnovers--two factors that contributed to a 6-21 record last season--again plagued Pepperdine.

The Waves made only 19 of 51 shots (37.3%), including four of 16 from three-point range, and committed 16 turnovers.

But if Pepperdine Coach Lorenzo Romar was disappointed, it didn’t show after the game.

“That was a tough, grind-it-out game and our guys stepped up and made some big plays down the stretch,” Romar said. “That was a game we would have lost last year. It wasn’t pretty, but that’s a credit to [Irvine].”

Although the Anteaters (0-2) were considerably shorter than the Waves at nearly every position, they played tenacious defense.

A layup by Irvine’s Juma Jackson tied the score, 42-42, with 3:09 to play, prompting Pepperdine to call a timeout.

The Waves responded with a layup by forward Tommie Prince and two free throws by center omm’A Givens to take a 46-42 lead with 1:52 left.

After a basket by Adam Stetson pulled Irvine within two, guard Gerald Brown hit a 10-foot jump shot for the game’s biggest basket with 25 seconds left and a 48-44 Pepperdine lead.

After an Irvine miss, Jelani Gardner sank two free throws with 17 seconds left for the Waves.

Brown, a senior who sat out last season to rehabilitate a surgically repaired right knee, scored 13 points for Pepperdine. Givens, a 6-foot-11 junior playing his first game for the Waves after transferring from UCLA, had 12 points and Prince added 11.

Romar credited Irvine, in its first season under Coach Pat Douglass, for preventing Pepperdine from getting into a desired transition game. In one stretch of the second half, the Waves went nearly seven minutes without a basket.

“[Irvine] came out and decided they were going to make it a half-court game, and they did a heck of a job doing it,” Romar said.

Gardner, a transfer from California, suffered through an inauspicious debut for Pepperdine. The 6-6 junior guard made only one of eight shots and scored five points despite being matched up against 5-8 Junior Bond.

It Irvine’s 14th consecutive loss, two short of the school record.

Pepperdine had trouble executing its half-court offense against UC Irvine’s man-to-man defense. The Waves made only 10 of 25 shots in the first half, including one of nine from three-point range, and led at intermission, 24-21.

The Waves’ home opener is Friday night against Norfolk State.