Pepperdine Gets Its Revenge Against Loyola Marymount

Wednesday night at Loyola Marymount, Marc McDowell and David Lalazarian combined for 16 points and Pepperdine was embarrassed defensively in a loss that seemed to take the Waves out of the West Coast Conference title hunt.

A lot can happen in 72 hours.

McDowell and Lalazarian combined for 40 points and the Waves scored a season-high 97 while holding the Lions to only 40% shooting Saturday night, as Pepperdine won, 97-83 at Malibu. A crowd of 3,315 saw the game, the largest in more than six years at Firestone Fieldhouse.

The victory, combined with Gonzaga’s loss to San Diego on Thursday, means the Waves, 16-8 overall and 7-2 in the conference, are only a game behind the Bulldogs with four games remaining. Pepperdine plays host to Gonzaga Feb. 19.

But Saturday’s game was also about revenge for McDowell, who scored a career-high 24 and grabbed eight rebounds in 24 minutes off the bench. The Waves’ bench scored 50 points, compared to 30 for the Lions (10-12, 5-5).

“[Loyola Marymount] acted like they won the national championship,” said McDowell of the Lions’ celebration after their 90-77 victory Wednesday. “They weren’t expecting to beat us and they shouldn’t have.

“We got mad because that shouldn’t have happened.”

Lalazarian added 16 off the bench. Pepperdine’s leading scorer for the season, Jelani Gardner, had 22 and Kelvin Gibbs scored 15 as the Waves shot 51%, compared to 39% on Wednesday.

But it was the Pepperdine defense that impressed Wave Coach Lorenzo Romar.

“With the exception of a three- or four- minute stretch, we got back on transition,” he said. “Their transition killed us last game.”

Willie Allen led the Lions with 21.