Pepperdine Wins WCC Championship

Brandon Armstrong scored 19 points and Pepperdine beat St. Mary’s, 71-42, Saturday at Moraga to clinch its first regular-season West Coast Conference championship in seven years.

Craig Lewis had 10 points and Kelvin Gibbs had 11 rebounds to help Pepperdine (22-7, 12-2 in the WCC) bounce back from Thursday’s 73-62 loss at San Diego.

The Waves enter next weekend’s conference tournament at Santa Clara as the No. 1-seeded team. They will play Loyola Marymount.

Frank Allocco’s 16 points led St. Mary’s (8-19, 3-11). No other player scored in double figures for the Gaels, who lost for the ninth time in 10 games.

Ahead, 34-23, at halftime, Pepperdine took control with a 12-2 run starting the second half.

Nick Sheppard’s driving layup touched it off, Tezale Archie made two free throws after St. Mary’s Coach Dave Bollwinkel drew a technical foul for arguing with officials, and Armstrong finished the run with a fast-break layup and a three-point basket.

The Gaels, trailing by 21 at that point, tried to get back in the game and a three-point play by Jovan Harris pulled them to within 50-34.

But Al Minahan hit a three-pointer, triggering an 18-0 burst that swelled Pepperdine’s lead to 68-34 with 4:17 left.

St. Mary’s, outshot from the field 41 percent to 29 percent, went scoreless for 7:20 until Allocco made the last of his four three-pointers with 4:04 remaining.