Pepperdine Defeats Santa Clara

For the first 11 1/2 minutes of Friday’s West Coast Conference game between Pepperdine and Santa Clara, the student section at Firestone Fieldhouse seemed more ready to play than either team did offensively.

But the Waves awoke for three minutes in the first half, outscoring the Broncos, 11-0, then let their defense and Santa Clara’s errors keep the Broncos from getting close, winning a mistake-filled game, 67-56, before 2,238 at Malibu.

“The shots were there, we just didn’t convert early in the game,” Pepperdine Coach Lorenzo Romar said. “Fortunately, we defended well enough that the game didn’t get away from us.”

The Waves, 11-7 overall and 2-1 in conference, held the Broncos (6-9, 2-1) to 44.9% shooting and, led by Tezale Archie’s five steals, forced 23 turnovers. That overcame Pepperdine’s 40% shooting and 17 turnovers.

Jelani Gardner led Pepperdine with 20 points and Archie added 13. Nathan Fast led Santa Clara with 18.

The game was scoreless until 17:32 into the first half, and the Waves didn’t make a field goal until David Lalazarian converted a three-point shot more than four minutes into the game. But the Broncos failed to take advantage, shooting only 32% in the first half en route to a 36-24 halftime deficit.

“We knew if we couldn’t score against [Pepperdine’s] defense, we were going to have trouble in the game,” said Santa Clara Coach Dick Davey, whose team’s loss leaves Gonzaga as the only undefeated team in WCC play. “In the first half, we shot a lousy percentage.”

The Broncos led, 16-15, with 8:36 left in the first half, but the Waves scored 11 in a row for a 26-16 advantage. Pepperdine built the lead to as many as 16, and the closest Santa Clara came was four with less than six minutes remaining.

“We self-destructed every time we’d start to came back,” Davey said. “They took advantage of the opportunities to keep themselves on top.”

The Waves, playing their first conference home game, were coming off a 31-point loss at Gonzaga Saturday. Their 12 steals matched a season high.

“The way we can tell if our team is flat is if we’re not getting after it defensively,” Romar said. “We were getting after it defensively. Not making shots doesn’t mean we’re flat.”