Pepperdine Makes a Statement

Pepperdine reaffirmed to the rest of the West Coast Conference on Saturday night that it isn’t ready to fade into the background.

Given little chance to beat co-leader Santa Clara, the Waves asserted themselves with a stunning run late in the second half to upset the Broncos, 82-68, Saturday and keep their conference title hopes alive with two games left. Pepperdine trails Gonzaga by two games and Santa Clara by one.

The Waves’ victory, before 1,138 at Firestone Fieldhouse in Malibu, came a day after Pepperdine suspended center omm’A Givens for the rest of the season, leaving the team with only seven scholarship players.

But the undermanned Waves overwhelmed Santa Clara with a 23-4 run, holding the Broncos without a basket for eight minutes, to turn a 54-51 deficit into a 74-58 lead with 1:48 to play.

“You always have doubts, but I think this weekend we answered some of those questions,” said Pepperdine Coach Lorenzo Romar, whose team beat San Francisco on Friday. “It was fun to see our guys competing.”

Senior guard Gerald Brown, playing in his final home game, led Pepperdine, 15-9 overall and 7-5 in the WCC, with 23 points, including 11 during the decisive run. Jelani Gardner added 18 points and Tommie Prince scored 13.

Santa Clara (17-7, 8-4), after shooting 56% in taking a 37-35 halftime lead, made only eight of 30 shots (26.7%) in the second half.

“They made us take tough shots,” Bronco Coach Dick Davey said. “Anybody can beat anybody in this conference, and Pepperdine has a nice group. I was impressed with their effort.”

Nothing was more surprising than Pepperdine’s free-throw shooting. The Waves, who entered the game next to last in WCC foul shooting (64.4%), made 30 of 34 free throws in easily their best performance of the season.

Brian Jones scored 20 points for Santa Clara.