Armstrong Has 40 to Lead Pepperdine

Brandon Armstrong scored 40 points Wednesday night to lead Pepperdine to an 81-65 victory over Loyola Marymount in a West Coast Conference basketball game before 2,005 at Gersten Pavilion in Westchester.

Armstrong, a 6-foot-4 junior guard from Vallejo, Calif., scored 21 points in the first half on nine-of-10 shooting and was 16 for 24 overall.

He was three for eight from the three-point line and made all five of his free throws.

Loyola Marymount was still in the game until a dunk by Armstrong with 2:21 to play made the score 73-61.

Pepperdine, which improved to 11-5 overall and 3-0 in the WCC, will play Loyola (5-11, 1-2) again Saturday night at Malibu.

Pepperdine Coach Jan van Breda Kolff pulled Armstrong out of the game with 27 seconds left even though he was only one point away from the high game of his career.

Armstrong scored 41 against North Carolina Charlotte in a tournament at Arizona State on Dec. 29. In that game, he made 13 of 24 shots.

“This was his best shooting game,” Van Breda Kolff said. “I took him out so he could get a round of applause. And besides, now he’ll want to do it next time.”

Said Armstrong: “I just tried to remain focused.”

Van Breda Kolff had praise for Armstrong and Kelvin Gibbs, who scored 16 points, including two dunks in the final minute, and also had praise for Loyola.

“LMU played a great game,” he said. “They played hard and executed well. That is a well-coached, good team.

“For us to win, we had to play a very good game, and that’s what we did.”

Before the game, Van Breda Kolff said he expected an emotional, hard-fought game, and that’s what it was.

“They showed why they are in first place,” Loyola Coach Steve Aggers said. “Down the stretch they made their fouls shots and a good team will do that.

“The good news is that we have another shot at them Saturday on regional television.”

Loyola is on the road back under Aggers, a Pepperdine assistant in the early 1990s who came to Loyola this season from Eastern Washington.

Loyola stayed close early--it was 19-19 with 7:54 to play in the first half--but then Armstrong took over.

“He played like an NBA player,” Aggers said. “He put on a show and made great plays. He hit mid-range shots with hands in his face. He was unbelievable and was clearly the best player on the court.”

Aggers was pleased with his team’s effort. Loyola trailed 38-27 at halftime but got within 64-57 in the second half.

“I thought we had the momentum and forced them into a bad shot,” Aggers said. “They got a big rebound and scored. I thought we could have put the game in doubt at that point.”

Pepperdine shot 52.5%, Loyola 37.5%, and Pepperdine had 10 turnovers to 13 for Loyola.

“We did not shoot well tonight,” Aggers said. “You can’t beat a team the caliber of Pepperdine by shooting 30%.”