MALIBU, Calif. - The No. 12 Pepperdine men's water polo team dropped its regular-season finale at home on Sunday afternoon, falling 17-8 in a Mountain Pacific Sports Federation matchup with No. 6 UC Santa Barbara.

The Waves fall to 11-14 overall with the loss and 1-8 in MPSF play. UC Santa Barbara moves to 16-9, 5-5 MPSF.

Both teams had slow offensive starts to the game, but the Gauchos were able to build a 4-1 lead at the half. UCSB then scored six in the third and seven in the fourth to pull away.

Pepperdine did put up five goals in the final period of play, but it was too little, too late.

Garrett Spruth (Newport Beach, Calif./Corona Del Mar HS) and Christopher Dilworth (Thousand Oaks, Calif./Thousand Oaks HS) each scored twice in the final quarter. Marko Asic (Laguna Nigel, Calif./Dana Hills HS) also posted a three-goal game for Pepperdine to close the regular season.

Five players on the UC Santa Barbara side posted multiple goals in the game.

Pepperdine opens up play at the MPSF Tournament this coming week. The conference postseason tournament will be held Nov. 20-22 at USC.

UC Santa Barbara def. Pepperdine, 17-8
UCSB - 2 - 2 - 6 - 7 - 17
PEP - 1 - 0 - 2 - 5 - 8

Scoring
UCSB - Shoemaker 3, Jovanavich 2 , Hamilton 2, Hauschild 2, Josh Jordan 2, Nicholas Jordan, Cotterill, Gaughan, Likens, Boullion, Jensen
PEP - Asic 3, Dilworth 2, Spruth 2, Luppin

Saves
UCSB - Whitlegge 5, Lenihan 3
PEP - Krutenat 10