Final Stats | Photo Gallery

Pepperdine-Gonzaga Box Score

SPOKANE, Wash. - The short-handed Pepperdine men's basketball team played a tremendous first half and held #3 Gonzaga to its lowest point total of the season, but the Waves were defeated 56-48 on Saturday night in West Coast Conference play.

The Waves (15-11, 8-7), missing three key players, never trailed in the first half and went into the break tied at 30-30 with the Bulldogs (26-1, 14-0). But Gonzaga scored the first seven points of the second half, asserted itself defensively, and won its 40th straight home game.

The Bulldogs entered the game averaging 80.7 points, ranking seventh in the country, and were held to 24 points below their average. Eleven of Gonzaga's 14 WCC wins have been by double-figures but Pepperdine has now kept the margin to single-digits twice.

Pepperdine outshot Gonzaga 42.3% to 41.7% and committed fewer turnovers (10 to 12). But the Zags' advantages came via the three-point shot (5-for-18 to 0-for-10) and the free throw line (11-for-12 to 4-for-7).

The Waves' 48 points were also a season low. Junior forward Stacy Davis (Laveen, Ariz./Fairfax HS) scored a team-high 13 points, while sophomore forward Lamond Murray Jr. (Los Angeles, Calif./Bishop Montgomery HS) had 11.

Junior forward Jett Raines (Coppell, Texas/Coppell HS) had a couple of early baskets as Pepperdine jumped out to an 8-2 lead to start the game. The Waves led for 16 minutes of the first half and matched their biggest lead of six points at 24-18 after an offensive rebound and basket by junior guard Atif Russell (Katy, Texas/Seven Lakes HS) with six minutes to go. Murray had 10 points and Davis had eight in the first half.

The 30-30 halftime tie was the first time that Pepperdine hadn't trailed at the break against Gonzaga since the 2002 WCC championship game. The Waves outshot the Bulldogs 53.6% to 34.6% in the first 20 minutes.

But the second half was another story as Gonzaga scored the first seven points to take the lead for the first time. The Waves made just one of their first 11 shots, and two of their first 16. That helped the Zags take a double-digit lead after 5 1/2 minutes, and they would take their biggest lead of 14 points several times, including 52-38 with 6:52 left and 56-42 with 4:39 left.

But, the Waves kept the Bulldogs scoreless the rest of the way and scored the game's final six points to make it a single-digit contest in the end.

Pepperdine shot just 29.2% after halftime to Gonzaga' 50.0%.

Freshman center Nate Gehring (Waukee, Iowa/Waukee HS) made his first career start and had three rebounds, three assists and a steal in 23 minutes. Russell pulled down a career-high eight rebounds in 20 minutes.

Gonzaga's Kevin Pangos scored a game-high 19 points and became the first individual to make four three-pointers in a game against Pepperdine this season.

The Waves were missing sophomore guard Amadi Udenyi (Oakland. Calif./De La Salle HS/St. Thomas More), who ruptured an Achilles tendon in Thursday's game at Portland, freshman guard Shawn Olden (Tulsa, Okla./Union HS), who missed his second straight game with a sprained ankle, and freshman forward A.J. John (Santa Rosa, Calif./Maria Carrillo HS), who missed his fifth consecutive game due to illness.

Pepperdine plays its final three WCC regular-season games at home, including two next weekend. On Thursday (Feb. 19), the Waves host Santa Clara at 6 p.m. in a game that will be shown online on TheW.tv. On Saturday (Feb. 21), it's the WCC Game of the Week as Pepperdine hosts San Francisco at 1 p.m. It will be shown locally on Time Warner Cable SportsNet. Fans can also listen to both games via WaveCasts with Al Epstein at PepperdineSports.com.