Men's Hoops Wins in Exhibition, 75-48
Click on the above video player for a postgame interview with the Waves' Joshua Lowery.
Pepperdine-Westmont Box Score
Nov. 6, 2009
MALIBU, Calif. - Junior forward Mychel Thompson sank five three-pointers and scored 21 points to lead the Pepperdine men's basketball team to a 75-48 exhibition victory over Westmont College of the NAIA on Friday evening.
The Waves led by eight at halftime (28-20) but blew the game open by hitting 72 percent (18-for-25) of their second-half shots. Pepperdine finished the night having made 60.4% of its field goals and held Westmont to 28.8% shooting.
Thompson (Portland, Ore./Stoneridge Prep) went 7-for-10 from the field and 5-for-6 on three-pointers, and also had six rebounds, three assists and two steals.
Sophomore forward Taylor Darby (San Marcos, Calif./Mission Hills HS) had 12 points and a team-high eight rebounds and sophomore forward Dane Suttle Jr. (Los Angeles, Calif./Summit College Prep) added 10 points off the bench.
"We played hard tonight," Pepperdine Coach Tom Asbury said. "We did things as a team that we wouldn't have been able to do at this time last year. We settled down as the night went on. This year we had the experience to finish off a game like this. Our freshman guards did a nice job. Mychel was obviously terrific. Taylor played well too once he settled down. What I really liked was our defense: 25% for the first half, 32% for the second half, 28% for the game. Shooting 60% isn't going to happen every game. We've still got some things to work on but we're getting better."
Westmont took a couple of small leads in the first half and was up 19-17 with less than four minutes to play after an Andrew Schmalbach three-pointer. But Pepperdine ended the first half on an 11-1 run, with Thompson scoring five points and Darby notching four.
Pepperdine took its first double-digit lead at 35-24 with 17 1/2 minutes to play in regulation on a basket by sophomore guard Keion Bell (Los Angeles, Calif./Pasadena HS). With a nine-point lead at 46-37 with under 10 minutes to go, the Waves went on a 15-0 run (Darby scoring six) over the next five minutes to go up by 24 at 61-37.The lead extended to 30 points at 75-45 when junior forward Jonathan Dupre' (Houston, Texas/Collin County CC) nailed a jumper.
Westmont was led by Dan Rasp's 18 points and Evan Haines' 10 points.
This was the Waves' only exhibition. Pepperdine opens the regular season next Friday (Nov. 13). It's a doubleheader with the women facing Northern Arizona at 5 p.m. and the men taking on Pacific at 7:30 p.m.
