Pepperdine University
Little Rock
Waves Hold on To Beat Little Rock, 66-65
11/22/2016 12:00:00 AM | Men's Basketball
CEDAR PARK, Texas -- The Pepperdine men's basketball team knocked off another 2016 NCAA Tournament team with a 66-65 nail-biting victory against Little Rock on Tuesday night at the Lone Star Showcase.
Just like an earlier home win over Weber State, the Waves (4-1) survived when the opponent missed a three-pointer at the buzzer. It was one of three missed shots in the final 10 seconds by the Trojans (3-2).
Senior guard Jeremy Major (Pasadena, Calif./Maranatha HS) scored a team-high 16 points, and with three assists, he tied Doug Christie for third place on the Waves' all-time assist list with 395. Senior forward Chris Reyes (La Verne, Calif./Damien HS./Utah) posted a double-double with 14 points and 10 rebounds.
Senior guard Amadi Udenyi (Oakland, Calif./De La Salle HS), who scored nine points, came out of the game late due to injury, but returned moments later to hit a clutch three-pointer with 1:18 left to put the Waves up 66-63.
The Trojans got a lay-up to cut the lead to one with 46 seconds left, and the Waves missed the front end of a one-and-one with 20.7 seconds left, setting up the final sequence. Little Rock missed a jumper and a follow shot and the ball was knocked out of bounds with 1.7 seconds left. Kemy Osse's final three-point attempt was off the mark.
"I thought out aggressiveness on offense, attacking the rim, was the difference," Pepperdine Coach Marty Wilson said. "Jeremy was outstanding. We made some good decisions offensively and cut down our turnovers in the second half against a scrappy, tough, physical team. The disappointing part was the offensive rebounds but we weathered their storm."
The Waves outshot the Trojans 50.9% to 36.4% and had their best night of the season from beyond the arc (7-for-13, 50.9%). Little Rock stayed close, however, thanks to free throws (14-for-19 vs. 3-for-11), offensive rebounding (18 for the Trojans and a 23-11 edge in second-chance points) and turnovers (10 to 15).
Little Rock led by as many as nine in the first half before the Waves caught up. The Trojans went into the break with a 34-32 lead. Pepperdine's first lead of the game didn't come until 13:29 remained in the second half on a Reyes basket.
An 8-1 run capped off with a dunk by sophomore center Nate Gehring (Waukee, Iowa/Waukee HS) later gave the Waves their biggest lead of seven points at 55-48 with 8:26 to go. But the Trojans eventually tied the game at 63-63.
Little Rock did its best to shut down Pepperdine senior guard Lamond Murray Jr. (Los Angeles, Calif./Bishop Montgomery HS), who came into the game averaging 27.3 points. He was held to nine points but he contributed in other ways.
"We told Lamond sometimes it's not going to be your day, and teams are going to come after you," Wilson said. "What can you do to help us win the game? He did a great job of making some assists and making it tough on them to get shots."
Gehring had five points and seven rebounds and freshman forward Craig LeCesne (Oxie, Sweden/St. James School) had eight points and seven rebounds.
The Waves conclude the Lone Star Showcase on Wednesday vs. St. Bonaventure at 3 p.m. PT/5 p.m. CT. There will be an audio-only broadcast via WaveCasts with Al Epstein on the call, and there will also be live video on the bd Global YouTube channel.
