Pepperdine Rallies for Memorable Stop in San Francisco

What was shaping up as a forgettable week for Pepperdine ended with a memorable victory Saturday night.

Guards Gerald Brown and Jelani Gardner, both shaking off poor shooting performances, combined to score Pepperdine’s last 13 points to help the Waves rally from an 11-point deficit in the final nine minutes and defeat San Francisco, 63-58, in a West Coast Conference game at Memorial Gym in San Francisco.

The victory, which ended a 13-game home winning streak for the Dons, wasn’t secure until Gardner rebounded a missed three-point shot by San Francisco’s Ali Thomas and made two free throws with one second to play.

Lorenzo Romar called it his biggest victory in two seasons as Pepperdine coach.

“Because of what was at stake,” he said. “It was 9-1-1. We could not afford to lose this game. We want to win the conference championship.”

The Waves, 10-6 overall and 2-2 in the WCC, salvaged a split in their Bay Area road trip--after losing at Santa Clara on Friday--despite falling behind, 46-35, with 9:36 to play when Hakeem Ward scored on a layup to complete a 10-1 run for San Francisco (11-5, 2-2).

Pepperdine allowed the Dons only four field goals the rest of the way and relied on Brown and Gardner offensively down the stretch. Gardner’s first basket after missing his first five shots got the Waves to within two, 56-54, with 3:29 left.

Brown, who was two for 10 at that point, followed with a jump shot to tie the score and made a three-point basket after a steal by Bryan Hill to put the Waves ahead for good, 59-56, with 1:26 left.

Hill led Pepperdine with 16 points, 11 coming in the second half.