Pepperdine Closes Strong in Victory

Alex Acker had a game-high 25 points and Pepperdine made nine free throws in the last two minutes to withstand a second-half comeback by Long Beach State for an 82-78 victory in front of 1,919 Tuesday night at the Pyramid.

Pepperdine (3-1) won its third in a row since a season-opening loss to East Carolina. Glen McGowan had 15 points for the Waves.

Long Beach (0-2) fought back from a 13-point second-half deficit and tied the score at 66-66 on Sam Byrd’s dunk with 6:59 left but could never take the lead.

“We had a 10-point lead [against Fairleigh Dickinson] with two minutes to go and then it looked like we’ve never played basketball before,” Pepperdine Coach Paul Westphal said. “Tonight, we executed in the last two minutes and won the game.”

Anthony Coleman led Long Beach with 17 points.

Eric Stephens

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No. 20 Wisconsin 72, UC Santa Barbara 61 -- Clayton Hanson scored 16 of his 18 points in the second half at Madison, Wis., as the Badgers (2-0) won their 30th consecutive home game. Casey Cook had 21 points for the Gauchos (1-1).

Vanderbilt 93, Cal State Northridge 75 -- Corey Smith scored a career-high 21 points to lead the Commodores (3-0) in the second round of the Las Vegas Holiday Invitational at Nashville. Freshman Calvin Chitwood led Northridge (0-2) with 21 points. The teams will play two games in Las Vegas on Nov. 26-27.