Waves Defeat Rhode Island to Spoil Harrick’s Return

After serving as Jim Harrick’s assistant coach at UCLA from 1992-96, Lorenzo Romar got his first chance to show Harrick how much he learned Tuesday night in the inaugural Sparkletts Invitational at Malibu.

He learned a lot.

Pepperdine used what Romar called its best first half of the season to defeat Rhode Island, 61-57, before 3,104 in Romar’s first meeting with Harrick since Romar took over at Pepperdine two seasons ago.

The Waves (8-5) made 68% of their first-half shots against the Rams’ zone defense and held Rhode Island (6-6) to only 28% shooting in jumping out to 37-23 halftime lead. They held off a late charge by Rhode Island to win for only the third time in eight games. Pepperdine plays Siena (8-1) today at 5 p.m. in the championship game.

“[The victory] means we broke our losing streak for December,” said Romar, who downplayed the fact it was his first game against Harrick. “It means we’re able to play for the championship in our tournament. And it means we beat a good team.

“We were able to put the ball in the middle of the post and hit a couple shots over the top of the zone.”

The game not only featured Harrick, who coached at Pepperdine from 1979-88, but also 6-foot-10 sophomore Lamar Odom, one of the nation’s best players in his first collegiate season.

Odom, averaging 14.9 points, scored a game-high 19 but made only five of 15 shots. Odom looked tired and frustrated throughout the game, never finding any consistent rhythm except when he scored six of the Rams’ first eight points in the second half.

Kelvin Gibbs, who scored 13 points for Pepperdine, had a simple explanation as to how the Waves contained Odom: “We put Tommie Prince on him.”

Despite giving up five inches to his taller opponent, Prince not only held Odom to 33% shooting but also had two steals and drew Odom’s fifth foul with 31 seconds to play and Pepperdine leading by four points.

“I took it upon myself to make sure he didn’t get on,” Prince said. “I relied on my quickness to stay in front of him and put a hand up on his shot.”

The Rams fell behind, 17-4, in the game’s first 4:40.

“I certainly hope all the attention given me didn’t detract from my team because we certainly got off to horrible, horrible start,” said Harrick, who coached at UCLA from 1988-96, winning a national title in 1995 before his dismissal prior to the 1996-97 season. “They got off to a great start and we could never climb out of that hole.

“We played pretty fairly in the second half, but we just couldn’t generate anything.”

Marc McDowell, making his first start of the year, scored 13 points for Pepperdine.

The one negative for the Waves was their poor free-throw shooting, especially down the stretch.

The Waves, shooting 64.2% from the foul line entering the game, made only 14 of 30, and only four of their last 16.

That helped Rhode Island get back into the game. The Rams, trailing by 10 points with 2:44 to play, get to within 60-57 with 23 seconds left before Jelani Gardner made a free throw to put the Waves ahead, 61-57, with 20 seconds left.

The loss was the second in a row for Rhode Island, which lost at Cleveland State on Sunday.

The Rams play Eastern Michigan (0-9) today at 2:30 p.m. before playing Xavier at Cincinnati on Sunday in their Atlantic 10 Conference opener. They don’t play again at home until Jan. 10.

“When this game was scheduled, I remember [Harrick] being concerned about all the travel,” Romar said.

While at Pepperdine, Harrick took the Waves to the NCAA tournament four times. He calls his team’s first-round double-overtime loss to eventual national champion North Carolina State in 1983 his defining moment in Malibu.

The Waves have only today’s game and a game at San Jose State on Saturday before opening West Coast Conference play at Portland on Jan. 7.

In the opening game of the Sparkletts Invitational, Siena defeated Eastern Michigan, 71-70.

Reserve Brandon Fields, who scored nine points for the Saints, made the first of two free throws with 1.7 seconds left to seal the victory.

Guard Marcus Faison led Siena with 14 points, eight in the second half.

The Saints led at halftime, 57-45, but the Eagles got 13 of Craig Erquhart’s game-high 18 points and all of Calvin Warner’s 12 in the second half and led, 67-66, with 3:14 to play.