Pepperdine Shows Loyola, Bradley the Door, 83-49

A handful of victories came this easy to Pepperdine in the early 1940s when opponents included the L.A. YMCA, Clifton’s Cafe, Warner Brothers and the News Guild.

But this was the first round of the West Coast Conference tournament and the opponent was longtime rival Loyola Marymount. In a forgettable conclusion to a disastrous season, the Lions gave a performance that would have embarrassed a wartime pick-up team.

Pepperdine scored the first 12 points, emptied the bench before halftime and rolled, 83-49, Saturday before 2,461 at Toso Pavilion.

The Waves (23-7) will play Santa Clara (19-11) in the semifinals tonight, 15 minutes after the 5:30 semifinal between Gonzaga (22-8) and San Diego (20-8).

Pepperdine should be rested. None of the Waves played more than 22 minutes, although 12 logged more than 10 minutes.

“A game like this becomes difficult because it’s hard to continue to attack when you’re ahead by a large margin,” Pepperdine Coach Jan van Breda Kolff said. “But it’s good for guys who haven’t played much but who work hard in practice to be rewarded. And it’s good for our starters to cheer them on.”

There was no rejoicing for Loyola in Coach Charles Bradley’s last game. The Lions (2-26) shot 27.6% and were out-rebounded, 54-34.

Bradley closed out an inglorious three-year tenure with a 20-62 mark. This season’s team defeated only two non-Division I opponents. Bradley declined to be interviewed after the game, but William Husak, Loyola’s athletic director, said a search for a new coach was underway even before Bradley resigned more than a week ago.

The Waves are surging in Van Breda Kolff’s first season, winning 15 of 17. Pepperdine, the WCC regular-season champion and top-seeded team in the tournament, burst to a 31-9 advantage and led, 53-24, at halftime.

Guard Brandon Armstrong made six of eight shots in the half, including all three three-point attempts. Although he played only five minutes in the second half, Armstrong scored 17 points.

Center Nick Sheppard and reserve forward David Lalazarian each scored 12 for the Waves. Sheppard had seven rebounds and three of Pepperdine’s 11 steals.

Six Waves had five or more rebounds, and they grabbed 20 on the offensive end. Pepperdine also had 20 assists, including several where an extra pass on a fast break led to a dunk or layup.

“We were still aggressive on the boards in the second half,” Van Breda Kolff said. “We also played very unselfishly.”

Pablo Machado, a 6-10 junior transfer from Georgia Tech, scored 21 points for Loyola.