Pepperdine Defense Is the Key in 58-44 Victory Over St. Mary’s

Pepperdine held St. Mary’s to 11 points in the first 14:40 on Saturday, then really tightened the screws, turning a four-point halftime lead into a 58-44 blowout in a West Coast Conference game at Malibu.

The Waves (16-7, 7-1 in conference play) held the Gaels scoreless for the first 7:20 of the second half and threatened to hold them under a point a minute until Eric Knapp made two three-point shots and a free throw in a 30-second span to cut the deficit to 50-40 with 5:30 to play.

The victory was the sixth in a row for Pepperdine, and Coach Lorenzo Romar attributed the streak to his team’s tenacious play without the ball.

“Our guys have bought into the idea that we are only as good as our defense,” Romar said.

Defense provided forgiveness for 17 Pepperdine turnovers and an offense that couldn’t get going the way it did in taking a 21-3 lead in a victory over San Diego Friday.

“When our offense isn’t clicking, good defense allows us some breathing room to get our rhythm back,” Romar said.

Pepperdine turned the ball over on three of its first four possessions yet never trailed. The lead grew to 20-11 on Kelvin Gibbs’ twisting shot in the key, but the only stretch that could remotely qualify as a St. Mary’s run followed and a layup by Frank Allocco with five seconds left made the halftime score 27-23.

St. Mary’s (9-14, 2-6) missed its first eight shots in the second half and mixed in three turnovers as Pepperdine put up 10 points. The Gaels finally scored on a short bank shot by Josh Greer, but the Waves surged and two free throws by Jelani Gardner with 8:15 to play made the score 48-31.

Gardner had 15 points and seven assists, making five of nine shots. Gibbs scored eight points and had 11 of the Waves’ 35 rebounds.

Pepperdine made 24 of 49 shots while holding St. Mary’s to 17 of 46 (37%).

Eric Schraeder of St. Mary’s, the leading scorer in the conference with a 20.7 average, took only four shots, making three and scoring 12 points.

“[Pepperdine guard] Tommy Prince did a great job denying Schraeder his shots,” Romar said.