Pepperdine University
Occidental (exhibition)
Men's Hoops Beats Occidental in Exhibition, 78-72
11/5/2011 12:00:00 AM | Men's Basketball
Nov. 5, 2011
Pepperdine-Occidental Box Score 
The Waves trailed 36-32 at halftime and fell behind 47-40 with 15 minutes left, but avoided the upset with some solid play down the stretch.
Pepperdine owned the boards, with senior center Corbin Moore (Cypress, Calif./Los Alamitos HS) pulling down a remarkable 19 rebounds. Darby (San Marcos, Calif./Mission Hills HS) had 10 rebounds to finish with a double-double and junior guard Caleb Willis (Stockbridge, Ga./Stockbridge HS) also had 10 rebounds.
Making their Pepperdine debuts, sophomore guard Nikolas Skouen (Bergen, Norway/Pratt CC) had 13 points and freshman guard Jordan Baker (Tempe, Ariz,/Tempe HS) added 12 points.
"Occidental is a well-coached team and very disciplined," Pepperdine Coach Marty Wilson said. "We knew they would throw their best shot at us. We did some good things tonight. But we've got some video to watch, a lot to learn and gain from this."
The Waves turned a seven-point deficit at 47-40 into a seven-point lead at 57-50 with 10:13 to go thanks to a 17-3 run. Baker scored nine of those points. The Waves forced turnovers on four straight possessions at one point, leading to buckets by Baker twice in a row, then Lowery (Phoenix, Ariz./Desert Vista HS) and freshman forward Ramon Eaton (Sacramento, Calif./Sheldon HS).
"I think the combination of some of our quicker and more athletic guys sparked us," Wilson said. "We had guys in there who were active, getting in the passing lanes, getting their hands on the ball, and that created easy baskets. That gave us some confidence, and encouraged us to get more stops."
Though the Tigers would come back and take the lead briefly with less than eight minutes to play, it didn't last. A lay-up by Moore gave Pepperdine the lead for good at 63-62 with 5:31 to play, and a three-pointer by Skouen and a lay-up by Eaton put the Waves up six at 68-62.
Occidental would get no closer than three points the rest of the way. Pepperdine made all six of its free throw attempts in the final minute.
The Waves shot 39.4% overall but had a better showing after halftime at 44.7%. Though Occidental finished at 41.3%, the Tigers were at 38.7% in the second half.
Pepperdine committed more turnovers, 13 to 12, but had a 23-8 advantage in points off turnovers (18 of those points came in the second half). The rebounding edge was 52-35.
Deshun McCoy and Conrad Liebowitz each score 20 points to lead Occidental. McCoy was a big factor in Occidental's halftime lead, as he scored 14 of his points before the break. The Tigers made nine three-pointers, but only two after halftime.
The Waves open the regular season against another Division III SCIAC opponent, Pomona-Pitzer, next Saturday (Nov. 12) in Firestone Fieldhouse at 7 p.m.
