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Pepperdine-Gonzaga Box Score

LAS VEGAS, Nev. - The Pepperdine men's basketball team played another strong first half against #7 Gonzaga, but the Bulldogs pulled away in the second for a 79-61 win in the semifinals of the West Coast Conference Championships on Monday night.

The Waves (18-13) had turned in two strong showings against the Bulldogs (31-2) during the regular season, losing by just two and eight points. This one looked to be headed the same way for a while as Pepperdine took a number of one-point leads during the first half and went into the break trailing just 35-33.

But in the second half, Gonzaga came out making 12 of its first 16 shots over the first 10 minutes and quickly pushed the lead to double-digits and beyond, and the Waves could not match the Bulldogs' efficiency.

"I am proud of our team," Pepperdine Coach Marty Wilson said. "I told them that we are not giving them an end-of-the-year speech, because we don't believe our year is over. I'm proud of everything. There are a lot of things that we've accomplished this year. I'm excited about where our program is and where it's headed.

"Gonzaga is a very good team. They can cause problems in a lot of ways. They've very well coached. They're going to cause problems in the NCAA Tournament."

Junior forward Stacy Davis (Laveen, Ariz./Fairfax HS) had team highs of 15 points and seven rebounds. Sophomore guard Jeremy Major (Pasadena, Calif./Maranatha HS) had 12 points. Freshman guard Shawn Olden (Tulsa, Okla./Union HS) added nine points and six rebounds, while junior forward Jett Raines (Coppell, Texas/Coppell HS) also had nine points.

The Waves made their first four shots of the game, the third of which was a lay-up by freshman center Nate Gehring (Waukee, Iowa/Waukee HS) that gave Pepperdine its first lead at 6-5. The fourth, a basket by Raines, made it 8-7 in the Waves' favor.

Gonzaga scored the next seven points, however, and later went up by seven at 17-10. Pepperdine came back with a six-point run of its own, and the Waves would eventually take a 21-20 lead on a lay-up by junior guard Atif Russell (Katy, Texas/Seven Lakes HS). Pepperdine's fourth and final lead came at 23-22 on another Russell field goal with 8:42 to play in the half.

The Bulldogs went up by six again, but the Waves got it back to a tie game at 33-33 on a lay-up by Davis with a minute to go. Gonzaga went into halftime with a 35-33 lead.

Pepperdine shot 46.7% in the first half but just 39.3% in the second, good for a total of 43.1%. Gonzaga went from 46.2% in the first half to 57.6% in the second, giving the Bulldogs an overall percentage of 52.5%. The Bulldogs took their first double-digit lead 3 1/2 minutes into the second half, and went up by 20 after 9 1/2 minutes. The Waves got no closer than 15 the rest of the way.

Gonzaga went 8-for-17 on three-pointers, while Pepperdine was 4-for-15. Turnovers (Pepperdine 11, Gonzaga 10) and points off turnovers (Pepperdine 15, Gonzaga 14) were very close, but the Bulldogs' used theirs to a 10-0 edge in fast-break points.

Byron Wesley scored a game-high 25 points, while Kyle Wiltjer had 17 and Przemek Karnowski had 13.

Pepperdine hopes to continue its season at one of the various postseason tournaments, all of which will announce their fields on Sunday (March 15). Among the Waves' highlights so far this season are the most overall wins since 2002, the program's first winning season in league play, the best finish in the WCC (fourth) and first WCC semifinal appearance since 2004, and the first winning season since 2005. A postseason bid would be Pepperdine's first since the 2002 NCAA Tournament.