Pepperdine Streak at 13

Jimmy Miggins and Devin Montgomery scored 20 points each as Pepperdine beat Portland, 83-77, on Thursday night at Portland, keeping the Waves undefeated in West Coast Conference play.

Pepperdine (18-6, 11-0 in conference) has a 13-game winning streak that is the nation’s longest. The Waves play eighth-ranked Gonzaga (23-3, 10-1) Saturday in Spokane, Wash. Pepperdine dealt the Bulldogs their last loss, on Jan. 18 at Malibu.

Despite enjoying a decided height advantage, the Waves trailed most of the first half and the early stages of the second. But Pepperdine then turned a 45-42 Portland lead into a 54-45 advantage with 13:38 left.

A three-point basket by Montgomery at the 10-minute mark gave Pepperdine its biggest lead at 64-51. Portland bounced back, though, with a four-point play by Casey Frandsen and a dunk by Ghislain Sema to make it 67-63 with 6:53 to play. But Pepperdine made eight of 10 free throws down the stretch to seal the victory.

Frandsen led Portland (5-20, 1-10) with 28 points, including seven three-point baskets.

Portland Coach Michael Holton decided to shake things up by starting the game with his two leading scorers, Frandsen and center Coky Rochin, on the bench. Frandsen didn’t score his first basket until the 12 minute mark of the first half.

No. 8 Gonzaga 72, Loyola Marymount 51--Dan Dickau scored 23 points and Cory Violette had 15 points and 15 rebounds for the Bulldogs at Spokane, Wash. Violette scored 11 points in the second half as Gonzaga pulled away to win its eighth consecutive game overall and 25th in a row at home.

Loyola Marymount (9-16, 2-9) has lost eight consecutive games overall and 14 in a row to Gonzaga. The Lions shot 30%.

Kent Dennis, who led Loyola Marymount with 12 points, made a three-point basket to cut Gonzaga’s lead to 47-42 midway in the second half, but Dickau made a three-point basket to start an 11-0 run and the Lions never threatened again.