Pepperdine Wins and Clinches Bye

A slow start didn’t prevent Terrance Johnson from coming through in the end Friday night.

Johnson scored Pepperdine’s last eight points and finished with a team-high 23 to help the Waves turn back St. Mary’s, 72-67, in a West Coast Conference game before 879 at Firestone Fieldhouse in Malibu.

With its fourth victory in five games, Pepperdine (15-11, 7-6 in WCC) clinched at least fourth place and a first-round bye in next week’s conference tournament. The Waves trail third-place San Francisco by a game and can secure the No. 3 seeding in the tournament by beating the Dons tonight in a conference finale.

St. Mary’s didn’t make it easy, though. Behind center Daniel Kickert, the Gaels (12-14, 5-8) rallied in the second half from an 11-point deficit and pulled within one, 65-64, on a three-point basket by Samuel Saint-Jean with 2:37 to play.

Johnson, a sophomore guard, answered with a three-point basket for a 68-64 Pepperdine lead with 2:01 left. He had missed all three of his three-point shots in the first half.

“I feel comfortable with the ball in the late seconds of the game,” Johnson said. “I took the shot with a lot of confidence.”

Johnson sealed the victory by making four free throws in the last 27 seconds to twice give Pepperdine five-point leads. Forwards Jimmy Miggins and Boomer Brazzle each had 14 points for the Waves.

-- Rob Fernas

San Francisco 75, Loyola Marymount 69 -- Darrell Tucker scored a game-high 29 points as the Dons (8-5, 13-13) remained in third place in the West Coast Conference with the victory at Gersten Pavilion. Loyola (10-18, 4-9) has lost three in a row after winning a season-high three straight.

The Lions will have to play on the first day of the conference tournament.

Tucker, a 6-foot-9, 245-pound senior, had his way inside.

He scored eight points in the final 1:51, including a three-point play with 41.8 seconds left that gave the Dons a 69-65 lead.

Sherman Gay, Andy Osborn and Charles Brown each had 12 points to lead the Lions. Brown added a career-high nine assists.

Loyola plays host to St. Mary’s tonight.

-- Eric Stephens