Pepperdine Takes It to St. Mary’s, 77-49

The biggest mystery entering Pepperdine’s West Coast Conference basketball opener Friday night was whether 7-foot-3 center Brad Millard of St. Mary’s would play.

The 345-pound senior, who is regarded as a possible first-round NBA draft choice, apparently injured his right ankle this week and was held out of the game by St. Mary’s Coach Dave Bollwinkel.

With Millard missing, there was no mystery about how the Waves pulled away for a 77-49 victory before 2,173 at Firestone Fieldhouse in Malibu.

The prospect of watching Millard brought out Jerry West and Mitch Kupchak of the Lakers and Elgin Baylor of the Clippers to scout the game. When they learned Millard wasn’t going to play, the trio left at halftime.

The prospects for St. Mary’s disappeared before then.

The Waves (11-5, 1-0 in the WCC) took a 33-23 halftime lead, but it wasn’t until the second half that they took advantage of Millard’s absence.

“The coach let us know at halftime that we were playing a little soft inside,” Pepperdine forward Tommie Prince said. “In the second half, we wanted to come out and attack the basket.”

Prince did his part, scoring all four of his baskets in the second half on layups and dunks. He finished with 15 points to lead the Waves along with guard Brandon Armstrong.

St. Mary’s (5-9, 0-1) made only 24.5% of its shots (13 of 53). The Gaels also had 28 turnovers.

As for Millard, he is not expected to play tonight against Loyola Marymount.