Pepperdine-Gonzaga Box Score

SPOKANE, Wash. - Sophomore guard Keion Bell exploded for 34 of his career-high 37 points in the second half to help give the Pepperdine men's basketball team one of its best performances at Gonzaga in years, although the #15 Bulldogs pulled off a 91-84 victory on Thursday night.

The Waves (7-13, 3-1) and the Bulldogs (15-3, 4-0) entered the game as the last two undefeated teams in the West Coast Conference, and although a heavily favored Gonzaga squad won the matchup in Spokane for the 12th straight year, this was the closest margin in the last 10 meetings here.

Bell (Los Angeles, Calif./Pasadena HS) gave the best performance of his career, and did it nearly all after halftime. He made 14 of 21 shots, three of four three-pointers and six of eight free throws. He also had five rebounds, four assists and four steals. Twenty-two of the points came in the first 8 1/2 minutes of the second half.

"Keion took over the game in the second half," Pepperdine Coach Tom Asbury said. "He can do that. He's a fighter. Stick him out there against the Lakers and he would try to do the same thing."

Bell's 37 points surpassed his previous high of 34 set earlier this season against Monmouth. The last time a Pepperdine player scored more points was in January 2001 when Brandon Armstrong notched 40 against Loyola Marymount.

"There have been a lot of games this year where I've laid back a bit in the first half, because teams are expecting me to score right away," Bell said. "But when they start to relax, I try to attack. I tried to take over. I never felt like we were out of the game. We fought back and I never felt like we were going to lose. Although we played tough, ultimately we lost so we're not going to walk out of here like we won."

While Gonzaga threatened to pull away numerous times and led by as many as 15 points, Bell and company - which included 17 points from sophomore guard Lorne Jackson (Simi Valley, Calif./Simi Valley HS) and 13 points from junior forward Mychel Thompson (Portland, Ore./Stoneridge Prep) - would not let the Bulldogs do so. The Waves closed the deficit to six points several times in the second half.

"We played hard," Asbury said. "We played really hard. We're closing the gap. They're better than we are now, but we're getting better ... We know we can play with people. But we have to win some of these games. Gonzaga, Portland and Saint Mary's are supposed to be the best three and we're trying to get into that upper echelon."

Pepperdine's 84 points were a season high.

Gonzaga got a career-high 32 points from Matt Bouldin and 20 points apiece from Elias Harris and Steven Gray.

Freshman forward Tanner Kerry (Sydney, Australia) scored with a jump-hook on the first possession of the game to give the Waves their only lead of the night. But Pepperdine missed its next nine field-goal attempts and Gonzaga jumped out to a 17-4 lead with a little less than 13 minutes to play.

The Waves' offense picked up from there, as they shot better than 50% the rest of the first half. Pepperdine chipped away a little bit at Gonzaga's lead, and got the deficit back down to single-digits once at 25-16 with 7:40 to go after a free throw by Thompson. But the Bulldogs answered each push by the Waves, and went into halftime with a 41-29 lead.

Bell got the second half going by making a steal and an end-to-end run for a lay-up, and then sank a three-pointer to make it a seven-point game at 41-34 just a little more than a minute into the half.

A 6-0 Gonzaga run was followed by a 6-0 Pepperdine run, which included Bell's second steal and lay-up in about three minutes. He had a huge dunk over a Gonzaga 7-footer that cut it to seven points again at 49-42 with 15:35 to play, but was whistled for a technical foul a few seconds later. After two Gonzaga free throws, Bell drove in for a lay-up and was fouled. He made the free throw, closing the gap to six points at 51-45 with 14:43 to play.

Bell added a couple of short jumpers over the next few minutes, but a 13-4 Gonzaga run extended the lead back up to 15 at 64-49 with 12:13 left.

Bell's scoring binge - 22 points over the first 8 1/2 minutes of the second half - finally ended after he made another short-range basket to make the score 66-53 with 11:30 to go.

Multiple free throws by sophomore forward Taylor Darby (San Marcos, Calif./Mission Hills HS) and Jackson kept the Waves close, and Pepperdine got the game back into single-digits again at 75-66 when Bell went into the lane and hit a little hook shot with 6:30 left. His two free throws made it a seven-point game at 75-68 with 4:50 to play.

After two Gonzaga baskets, Bell put up his most acrobatic basket of the night. He jumped and was fouled about 15 feet from the basket, but threw the ball up while he was spinning around and it went in. He made the free throw to make the score 79-71 with 2:56 to go.

Thompson, Jackson and Bell hit three-pointers in the final two minutes, but Gonzaga sank enough of its free throws down the stretch to hold on for the victory.

Pepperdine, which has no seniors and has a roster where 12 of the 16 players are underclassmen, has been led in scoring by its sophomore class in 20 of 20 games this season.

The Waves next visit Portland on Saturday (Jan. 23) at 7 p.m. Fans can listen to Al Epstein's broadcast at www.pepperdinesports.com with a subscription to Wave Casts.