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Box Score

MALIBU, California " Pepperdine's Lamond Murray Jr. edged Santa Clara's Jared Brownridge in a battle between two of the West Coast Conference's top scorers, but the Broncos' men's basketball team had more in reserve to pick up a 75-61 road victory against the short-handed Waves on Saturday evening.

Murray (Los Angeles, Calif./Bishop Montgomery HS) posted the third 30-point game of his career and finished one shy of his career high with 32 points tonight. He made 12 of 17 shots and connected on four three-pointers. Brownridge, who recently scored his 2,000th career point, poured in 30 points, with seven of his nine field goals being three-pointers.

But the Broncos (10-9, 4-2 WCC) had a total of four players in double-figures to only two for the Waves (5-13, 1-5 WCC). Santa Clara also outshot Pepperdine 48.2% to 41.2%, and doubled the Waves up in three-pointers made (14 to seven).

Senior forward Chris Reyes (La Verne, Calif./Damien HS/Utah) was the only other Wave to reach double-digits. He had 11 points and a team-high seven rebounds.

The Waves had a good defensive first half, limiting the Broncos to 25 points, the fewest Pepperdine has given up in a first half all season.

Murray had 10 points during a 19-5 run that gave the Waves a 24-17 lead. The run ended with a basket by senior guard Jeremy Major (Pasadena, Calif./Maranatha HS) with 6:34 left. However, that would be the final points of the first half for Pepperdine. The Waves missed their final nine shots and made three turnovers, while the Broncos went on an 8-0 run to close the half and take a 25-24 lead at the break.

The Waves continued to struggle offensively at the start of the second half, as the Broncos opened with a 13-2 run to take a 38-26 advantage with under 16 minutes to play. The lead stayed in double-figures most of the rest of the way, with a margin of as many as 17 points. Santa Clara shot 60.0% from the field in the second half.

Murray scored 22 of his 32 points in the second half to keep the Waves in it. But the rest of Pepperdine's players went a combined 9-for-34 from the field overall.

Freshman forward Craig LeCesne (Oxie, Sweden/St. James School) contributed eight points and five rebounds off the bench, but beyond him, Murray and Reyes, no other Wave had more than three points.

Major moved another step closer to becoming the program's all-time leader in assists. He had five more tonight, giving him 448. The record is 450, set by Mark Wilson between 1981-84.

Pepperdine played the game with only eight scholarship players and dressed 11 in all. Senior point guard Amadi Udenyi (Achilles tendon), sophomore forward Kameron Edwards (jaw), freshman guard Kaijae Yee-Stephens (ankle) and sophomore center Nate Gehring (concussion) were all sidelined again tonight.

Next week, the Waves will take arguably their most challenging road trip of the season, with games at BYU on Thursday (Jan. 19, 7 p.m. MT, BYUtv) and Saint Mary's on Saturday (Jan. 21, 8 p.m., Spectrum SportsNet). Fans can also listen to both games via WaveCasts at PepperdineWaves.com with Al Epstein on the call.