Pepperdine Victorious in Double Overtime

Alex Acker scored 29 points and his three-point basket to start the second overtime gave Pepperdine the lead for good in a 116-110 victory over Arkansas Little Rock in the opening round of the Lobo Invitational on Saturday night at Albuquerque.

Pepperdine (7-4) tied the score, 89-89, at the end of regulation on Terrance Johnson’s 24-foot three-pointer with one second left. Acker’s 10-foot jumper in the lane with 30.3 seconds left in the first overtime tied the score, 100-100, and forced the second overtime. Arkansas Little Rock (7-5) went for the last shot in the first overtime. Jibrahn Ike put up a shot in the lane, which was blocked from behind by Acker.

Acker’s three-pointer 13 seconds into the second overtime gave the Waves a 103-100 lead and Pepperdine built the lead to 110-103 with 58 seconds left on a layup by Robert Turner.

Pepperdine used an 18-2 run to take a 41-28 lead -- the biggest of the game for either team -- with 5:53 left in the first half. The Trojans got within 46-42 at halftime by scoring the last eight points of the first half.

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UC Irvine 96, Indiana Purdue Fort Wayne 79 -- Jordan Harris and Stanislav Zuzak came off the bench to score 18 points each as the Anteaters led from start to finish before 1,997 at the Bren Center.

Irvine (5-3) won its fifth in six games as six players scored in double figures. Guard Ross Schraeder had 15 points in his first start of the season and center Adam Parada had 14 points, eight rebounds and three blocked shots.

Parada had been struggling and had lost his starting job to Greg Ethington. He said extra work on defensive position in practice paid off Saturday.

“Staying out of foul trouble and staying on the court was the big key,” said the junior, who had fouled out of his last two games. “It’s hard to get into the flow if you’re on the bench.”

Against a porous Mastodon defense, the Anteaters shot 62% in the first half and took a 54-32 lead at intermission. Mike Efevberha had all of his 13 points in the half as Irvine dominated from the outset.

Terry Collins was the lone bright spot for the Mastodons (2-11) as he scored a game-high 36 points. Collins had 21 of his points in the first half, including five three-pointers. He finished with nine three-pointers in 13 attempts.

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San Francisco 75, CS Fullerton 61 -- Darrell Tucker had 23 points and 11 rebounds as the Dons defeated the depleted Titans at San Francisco.

James Bayless and Shamell Stallworth had 10 points each for the Dons (4-6).

Fullerton, which suited up only seven players because of a rash of injuries, got 16 points from Bron Groomes.

Derick Andrew had 13, Jamal Forcheney 11 and Zakee Smith 10 for the Titans (2-7), missing their two leading scorers Ralphy Holmes and Pape Sow, with shoulder and ankle injuries respectively.

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Washington 89, CS Northridge 80 -- Will Conroy scored 26 points for the Huskies at Seattle as Washington (5-4) went over .500 for the first time under new Coach Lorenzo Romar.

Conroy, who averaged 2.5 points last season, leads the team this season with a 15.0 average.

Cal State Northridge (6-4) scored the first basket of the second half, but then went the next six minutes without making a field goal. During that stretch, Washington went on a 15-5 run and from that point its lead was never threatened.

After a five-game winning streak, the Matadors have lost two in a row. John Clark scored nine of the Matadors’ first 11 points and finished with a career-best 22. Lionel Benjamin had 15.

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Bucknell 67, UC Santa Barbara 60 -- Kevin Bettencourt scored 19 points and Chris Rodgers had 18 to lead Bucknell in the consolation game of the ASU/azcentral.com Hoops Classic at Tempe, Ariz.

Rodgers made seven free throws in the last 53 seconds to keep the Bison (5-5) ahead.

Branduinn Fullove had 18 points for the Gauchos (3-7), who have lost five in a row for the first time since 1998-99, Bob Williams’ first year as coach.

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Staff writer Eric Stephens contributed to this report.