Armstrong Gets Strong-Armed in Loss

In a deafening arena, the silence nearly drove Pepperdine mad.

As guard Brandon Armstrong attempted a three-point shot with five seconds to play and the Waves trailing by three, his elbow was jarred by Danny Brotherson of Nevada Las Vegas, sending the ball on an errant path.

But no whistle sounded and the Waves fell, 69-64, Friday night before 10,673 at Thomas & Mack Center.

Isolate the moment and Pepperdine (6-5) surely had reason to cry foul. But consider the entire 40 minutes and there were enough Wave mistakes to render the strong-arming of Armstrong a mere footnote.

Maybe that’s why Coach Jan van Breda Kolff kept the Waves in a closed-door meeting for 40 minutes after the game, much as he did after a loss Tuesday to Utah.

“We are still going through finding our identity,” Van Breda Kolff said. “This was disappointing. We got in a position for our best shooter to take a three-pointer, and he should have had three free throws. But that’s the way it goes.”

This is a team in desperate need of uninterrupted practice. And after two games next week in the AZCentral.com tournament, the Waves will have two weeks to prepare for West Coast Conference play.

“It’s a weird deal in the schedule, but at this point I’m looking forward to it,” Van Breda Kolff said.

He lamented that because four freshmen and two transfers are in the playing rotation, it is difficult to practice at full speed. He continually must halt the action to explain things.

During games, he is helpless to do much more than watch. Pepperdine has lost three of four and often appears lost on offense. Armstrong had 16 points and Kelvin Gibbs and Derrick Anderson each scored 14, but the Waves made only two of 14 three-point shots and committed 16 turnovers.

The Pepperdine defense remains a strength. Rebel center Kaspars Kambala was held to 11 points--eight under his average--UNLV shot only 39.3% and Pepperdine held a 45-36 rebounding edge.

UNLV (5-5), playing its third game since Coach Bill Bayno was fired last week, came out cold and did not take a lead until Vince Booker made a three-point shot with 7:15 to play to make the score 49-48.

Pepperdine had one last lead, 52-51, on a free throw by Armstrong, then was outscored, 10-2, to trail by seven with 3:27 to play. The Waves forced two turnovers in the last two minutes and two free throws by David Lalazarian cut the deficit to 65-64 with 10 seconds left.

Booker made two free throws for UNLV and Armstrong took Pepperdine’s last shot.