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Pepperdine-Pacific Box Score

MALIBU, Calif. -- Lamond Murray Jr. had a monster game -- career highs of 31 points and 10 rebounds -- to help lead the Pepperdine men's basketball team to a nail-biting 81-76 West Coast Conference victory over visiting Pacific on Thursday night.

Murray (Los Angeles, Calif./Bishop Montgomery HS), senior forward Jett Raines (Coppell, Texas/Coppell HS) and senior forward Stacy Davis (Laveen, Ariz./Fairfax HS) combined to score 68 of the Waves' 81 points, including 36 of the 40 in the second half.

The Waves improved to 9-6 overall and 2-2 in the WCC, and moved to 6-0 in Firestone Fieldhouse this season (their best home record after six games since 2004-05). Pacific dropped to 3-11, 2-3.

Pepperdine led by 10 with 13 minutes left but had to hold off Pacific's comeback attempt. The Tigers went up by three several times late, including the last time at 71-68 with 2:10 to play.

Pacific's final lead came at 73-72 with 56 seconds left after a jumper by T.J. Wallace. Davis made two free throws to put Pepperdine back in front with 50 seconds left, and two defensive stops were each followed by two made free throws by Raines with 34 seconds left and Murray with 25 seconds remaining.

Wallace drained a deep three-pointer to cut Pepperdine's lead to 78-76 with 21 seconds to go. Davis made one of two free throws with 14 seconds left. Pacific could have tied the game with a three-pointer, but junior guard Jeremy Major (Pasadena, Calif./Maranatha HS) forced a turnover on the next possession, and Raines sealed the victory with two free throws with five seconds remaining.

Free throws, a problem in some previous games, were hugely important to Pepperdine's victory. The Waves had season highs for makes (31) and attempts (38, tied) while connecting on 81.6% of them. The Waves went 19-for-20 in the second half, including 9-for-10 in the final minute.

That was especially important as Pacific outshot Pepperdine, 49.2% to 40.0% overall, and 51.4% to 31.0% in the second half.

Murray -- who had his big night with family friend Drake in attendance -- made eight of 16 shots, three of four three-pointers and 12 of 13 free throws. It was his first career double-double. He became the first Wave to score at least 30 points since Mychel Thompson did it in February 2011. Twenty-one of the points came in the second half.

Raines scored 20 points, which including a 9-for-10 showing from the free throw line. Davis recorded his seventh double-double of the season with 17 points and 12 rebounds. He moved into the top 10 in Pepperdine's all-time scoring list and his 27th career double-double moved him up into a tie for sixth place.

No one else on the Waves had more than five points, but both point guards played key roles, as junior Amadi Udenyi (Oakland, Calif./De La Salle HS) had seven assists and Major collected five points, three assists and three steals. The Waves finished with a season-low-tying six turnovers.

"We've been begging our guys to do what we know they are capable of doing," Pepperdine Coach Marty Wilson said. "We want them to do things they can do well, and they did them tonight. I'm proud of how we executed for each other. Lamond got going and we looked for ways to run things for him. When he gets in a rhythm he's hard to stop. He can score a lot of ways. He's doing all the things we need him to do and we've been asking him to do."

Wallace scored 22 points to lead Pacific.

Pepperdine ends its three-game homestand on Saturday (Jan. 9) against Saint Mary's at 1 p.m. in the WCC Game of the Week. It will be shown locally on Time Warner Cable SportsNet. Pepperdine Hall of Famer Al Epstein will have an audio-only WaveCasts available at PepperdineSports.com.