Pepperdine Won’t Be Brought Up Short, 65-61

Even if all the news wasn’t good, Pepperdine found something to celebrate Friday night.

On the day Pepperdine announced that center omm’A Givens has been suspended for the rest of the season, guard Gerald Brown returned to form.

Shaking off a recent shooting slump, Brown scored 19 of his 24 points in the second half to spark the Waves to a 65-61 West Coast Conference victory over San Francisco before 1,536 at Firestone Fieldhouse.

Brown, who entered the game shooting 38.7% in conference games, made 10 of 18 shots, including eight of 13 in the second half and the Waves (14-9, 6-5 in the WCC) ended a two-game losing streak.

“Gerald Brown has been the go-to guy in this program for the last three or four years,” Pepperdine Coach Lorenzo Romar said.

“He got into somewhat of a slump, but tonight he rebounded well. For us to win, it’s important that guys like that step up.”

Pepperdine’s other senior, forward Bryan Hill, also stepped up, finishing with 19 points, eight rebounds and three blocked shots.

Hill and Brown scored 29 of the Waves’ 36 second-half points.

Brown, who was relieved to finally be hitting his jump shot again, said Pepperdine needs to pull together now that the team has been reduced to eight players by Givens’ suspension.

The action against Givens came following an internal investigation into a Jan. 13 incident at practice in which Givens punched teammate Aaron Butler, breaking his jaw.

“It’s going to be difficult,” Brown said. “Omm’A was a part of this team; he still is. We just have to go out and take control. It’s another obstacle we have to climb.”

After falling behind by five in the second half, Pepperdine took the lead for good with an 8-0 run down the stretch.

Hill, who made nine of 10 shots, capped the run with a jump shot from the baseline to give the Waves a 61-57 lead with 1:21 to play.

San Francisco (13-10, 4-7) pulled to within 63-61 on a layup by forward Damian Cantrell with 41 seconds left.

Brown worked the shot clock down before missing a leaning jumper. But Hill got the rebound, setting up two free throws by Jelani Gardner with 1.3 seconds left.

Hakeem Ward scored 18 points and Cantrell had 17 for the Dons.

Relying on its inside game, San Francisco was successful going to Cantrell and Ward for close-range baskets.

Late in the game, though, the Dons turned the ball over on three consecutive possessions trying to get it inside.

“Too many turnovers,” said Cantrell, who played at Santa Clara High and Ventura College.

“We tried to force it into the post when [a play] really wasn’t there and [Pepperdine] capitalized on it. We should have had this game.”

Romar, whose team plays host to conference co-leader Santa Clara at 5 p.m. today, said he expects the Waves to keep their focus.

Without the 6-foot-11 Givens, Pepperdine has only seven scholarship players and no one taller than 6-7.

“It’s not the ideal situation, but we have to play the hand we were dealt,” he said.

“Our guys did a great job of sucking it up tonight.”