Diawara Scores 24 Points to Lift Pepperdine

Pepperdine nearly lost its season as it waited and waited for the NCAA to decide the fate of junior forward Yakhouba Diawara. With Diawara leading the way Saturday night against Loyola Marymount, the Waves are heading in the right direction.

Diawara scored a game-high 24 points and had eight rebounds as Pepperdine beat the Lions for the 11th consecutive time with an 82-67 West Coast Conference victory in front of a raucous sellout crowd of 3,249 in Firestone Fieldhouse.

Diawara, a 6-foot-7, 225-pound native of France, sat out the first 17 games while the NCAA investigated his amateur status. In his third game back, he dominated the frontcourt matchup against Loyola Marymount’s leading scorer, Sherman Gay, with muscle inside.

“He’s exactly what we’ve been needing,” Coach Paul Westphal said. “It was 17 games of hell because we knew what we had and he’s just sitting there. All we could do was look at him because we can’t put him in the game.”

Diawara was active on both ends of the court for the Waves (8-12, 3-2 WCC). On one possession, he forced Gay into a five-second call to fire up the partisan crowd.

“Diawara had a great second half,” Lion Coach Steve Aggers said. “They did a great job of getting him the ball in the post. If they had him in the first half of the season, I’m sure they wouldn’t have 12 losses.”

Gay was held to 13 points and three rebounds for the Lions (10-8, 1-4), which had only eight scholarship players available because of injuries. Keith Kincade led the Lions with 16 points.

Pepperdine steadily built on a 34-30 halftime lead. Glen McGowan’s slam off a lob pass from Terrance Johnson punctuated an 11-2 run that gave the Waves a 70-53 lead.

McGowan, the Waves’ leading scorer, didn’t start because he missed practice time because of flu and had eight points. Johnson made 10 of 16 shots and scored 23 points.

“Once we got behind, they made it more of an up-tempo game and that doesn’t benefit us with our current injury situation,” Aggers said.

-- Eric Stephens

Utah State 62, UC Riverside 58 -- Cardell Butler made four free throws and Mark Brown came up with two key defensive plays to help the Aggies score the final seven points and rally for the victory at Riverside.

Just as they did Thursday night when they scored the final nine points in a 57-49 victory at Cal State Fullerton, the Aggies stepped up in crunch time for their 12th consecutive victory.

Forward Nate Harris led Utah State (15-1, 7-0 Big West Conference) with a career-high 25 points and nine rebounds.

“It took a lot of guts and grit to get this one,” said Butler, who made four free throws in the final two minutes. “At least three times I thought we had lost this one.”

Without injured Spencer Nelson, the Aggies’ leading rebounder and second leading scorer, Utah State had trouble matching Riverside’s energy early. With Vili Morton and Nate Carter scoring points in the paint and Ted Bell making three-point baskets, the Highlanders opened a 25-16 lead with 5:40 remaining in the first half.

Riverside (6-9, 3-4) led for most of the second half but failed to make important shots down the stretch. Carter led the Highlanders with 16 points and nine rebounds, and Morton scored 14 points.

-- Lonnie White

Long Beach State 77, UC Irvine 74 -- Forward Kevin Roberts made three of four free throws and guard Jibril Hodges scored five points in overtime at the Pyramid in a game that was stopped twice when fans threw things on the floor.

Roberts, who sat out most of the first half, helped rally the 49ers from a 18-point first-half deficit, scoring seven of his 13 points from the free-throw line. His free throws with 3:24 left in overtime gave Long Beach State (5-11, 3-4) a 73-71 advantage that it never relinquished.

Guard Mike Efevberha of Irvine (9-7, 4-3) sent the game into overtime when he made a three-point basket to tie the score, 68-68, with less than a second showing in regulation.

Three consecutive three-pointers from guard Ross Schraeder and another by Efevberha opened the scoring as Irvine raced to a 22-4 lead.

But Long Beach State used an 18-4 run at the start of the second half to take a 46-45 lead and built a 62-58 cushion with 2:44 to go when Hodges made two free throws on technical fouls assessed to Irvine after a fan threw a water bottle on the court.

-- Paul McLeod

Cal State Fullerton 70, Idaho 59 -- David Warsaw scored a career-high 16 points and the Titans rallied at Fullerton.

Yaphett King had 12 points and Pape Sow had nine for the Titans (6-10, 2-5 Big West).

Tyrone Hayes led all scorers with 17 points for the Vandals (5-11, 2-5), who have lost five of seven.

Fullerton used a 10-0 run to move ahead, 53-44, with 6:45 to play.

Pacific 76, UC Santa Barbara 56 -- Christian Maraker scored 16 points and had eight rebounds for the Tigers (12-7, 7-1 Big West) at Stockton.

Nick Jones scored 14 points for the Gauchos (10-6, 4-3), who shot 37% from the field. Pacific shot 58%.

Cal State Northridge 80, Cal Poly San Luis Obispo 71 -- Ian Boylan scored 27 points to lead the Matadors at Northridge.

Etoagwara Onyenegecha scored 23 points and Davin White scored 21 for the Matadors (7-9, 3-5 Big West).

Northridge trailed by as many as 15 points in the first half and 42-38 at halftime. The Matadors outrebounded the Mustangs, 45-23.

Kameron Gray led San Luis Obispo (6-9, 1-6) with 15 points, all on three-point baskets.