Pepperdine Gets It Going in Time

They were being outhustled, outplayed and, in a stretch or two, outclassed.

For 20 minutes, the Pepperdine Waves didn’t appear to realize their season was on the line Friday night in a West Coast Conference first-round tournament game against Loyola Marymount. As the halftime buzzer sounded, they were down by 12 points and looked to be a beaten team heading into the locker room.

Pepperdine Coach Paul Westphal decided drastic measures were needed.

“We got a verbal lashing,” forward Glen McGowan said. “It’s not too often you hear Coach yelling at the top of his lungs. Everyone was passive in the first half and he got us going.”

A transformation ensued that was just as stunning. The Waves scored 57 second-half points and won going away, 91-79, at the Leavey Center to advance to today’s quarterfinals against San Diego.

McGowan scored 19 points and Alex Acker had 17 for Pepperdine (17-13). But it was two freshmen, guard Kingsley Costain and center Russell Hicks, who provided a huge lift.

Costain scored 12 of his 17 points in the second half and Hicks was a dominating presence with 15 points and seven rebounds, including six straight points in a game-changing 16-2 run.

“It’s like we had a new team in the second half,” Hicks said.

Acker’s basket in the lane after a drive gave the fifth-seeded Waves their first lead and Hicks’ subsequent run pushed the margin to 67-60. By then, Loyola was finished despite getting a game-high 22 points from guard Brandon Worthy.

“Once they got the momentum, we couldn’t stop [it],” Loyola Coach Steve Aggers said. “We tried to change defenses a couple of times. Everything they did worked out perfectly.”

Afterward, Westphal had a simple explanation for the turn of events.

“Mostly, it was just effort,” he said. “I never thought that they didn’t care. It was just that they weren’t playing with more aggression than LMU was. I think they remembered how hard they have to play to make things happen.”

Similar to its game against the Waves six days ago in Malibu, Loyola (11-17) got off to another strong start. Matthew Knight, who had 18 points, immediately established himself inside by scoring the Lions’ first eight.

Knight scored on a layup and Damian Martin got behind the Waves’ lagging transition defense for three layups as the lead grew to 46-32. Martin already had a season-high 11 points and finished with a career-high 15.

“We played as well as we’ve played since Christmas,” Aggers said.

So Westphal gave his stern halftime lecture. The Waves responded by scoring the first seven points and the comeback was on.

“The first five minutes were the most important,” McGowan said. “It was either going to make us or break us.”

San Francisco 65, Portland 60: Tyrone Riley scored 22 points to lead the Dons to a first-round victory.