Waves Help Ease Transition for Westphal

Paul Westphal appeared totally relaxed Saturday afternoon as he settled into his seat on Pepperdine’s bench for the season opener against Cal State Fullerton.

The Waves allowed their new coach to maintain his calm throughout the game with a 75-58 nonconference victory against the undermanned Titans before 1,577 at Firestone Fieldhouse.

It was Westphal’s first victory as a college coach since 1988, when the former NBA All-Star was on the sideline for Grand Canyon College before returning to the NBA as an assistant coach.

“I’m still learning some of the college rules,” said Westphal, who was the head coach for the Phoenix Suns and Seattle SuperSonics. “Some of the stuff is a little bit different, the way you substitute and the way timeouts work.”

Guard Craig Lewis scored 16 points, forward Terrance Johnson scored all 14 of his points in the first half, and forward Jimmy Miggins finished with 12 for the Waves (1-0).

Fullerton (0-1) was playing without 6-foot 11-inch Babacar Camara and 6-10 Pape Sow who were suspended by Coach Donny Daniels for two exhibitions and the Pepperdine game for violating unspecified team rules.

The Titans still outrebounded Pepperdine, 34-33.

“We had a big size advantage and didn’t always take advantage of it,” Westphal said. “[Fullerton] made us play the way they wanted to play a little bit more than I would have liked.”

Fullerton had a 20-18 lead with 6:69 left in the first half before Pepperdine went on a 15-0 run.

The Waves went ahead, 33-20, on one of two thunderous dunks by Johnson on alley-oop plays and led, 35-25, at halftime.

The Titans got to within seven points early in the second half but Pepperdine answered with an 8-0 spurt that increased the margin to 45-30. Fullerton could get no closer than 11 points.

“For the most part, I thought we did compete,” Daniels said. “It was a good learning experience for us against a good team.”

Forward Brandon Campbell and guard Ryan Dillon each scored 11 points for Fullerton.