Pepperdine traveled north to Spokane for a Thursday night matchup against the West Coast Conference's top-ranked team, Gonzaga. Pepperdine trailed #24 Gonzaga by just seven at halftime but the Bulldogs ultimately pulled out the win, defeating the Waves 83-68.

Stacy Davis led the team in points with 14, followed by Brendan Lane and Nikolas Skouen each with 12, and Malcolm Brooks with 11 points.

Skouen has been contributing on the court more and more as the season progresses and played 20 good minutes in Thursday's game.

"Iam very grateful for the opportunities I have been given recently to contribute more on the court," Skouen said. "I have been praying a lot about it, and have focused on utilizing every opportunity I have to prepare as much as I can and make sure that I am ready to perform whenever the coach calls my name."

Gonzaga's McCarthey Athletic Center, often referred to as "the Kennel," is a unique experience for any visiting team. Said Skouen: "It was a great place to play.The fans started showing up an hour and a half before the game, and they brought a lot of energy and adrenaline to the game. It was really fun to play there."

Despite the loss, the players continue to motivate each other and maintain a positive outlook on the remaining games of the season.

"We are able to stay together, stay aggressive, and play confidently," Skouen said."We have the ability to do some amazing things on the court, and I feel like we are continuously growing, and we are more together at this point in time than we have been all season. Like we've said all season, this is a very unique team with a great group of guys, and we have the potential to do some really great things."

Pepperdine continues its Pacific Northwest series at Portland on Saturday (Feb. 15) at 1 p.m. It's the WCC Game of the Week and it will be televised locally on Time Warner Cable SportsNet. An audio broadcast of the game will be available for free via WaveCasts at PepperdineSports.com with Al Epstein on the call.