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Box Score

MALIBU, California " Lamond Murray Jr.'s final game in Firestone Fieldhouse was a great one and freshman Nolan Taylor had his best performance of the season, but San Francisco dealt the short-handed Pepperdine men's basketball team a 76-65 defeat on Saturday afternoon in the regular-season finale.

The Waves, who have lost three starters and four players to season-ending injuries, close the regular season at 9-21 overall and 5-13 in the West Coast Conference. USF improved to 20-11, 10-8.

After falling behind by as many as 13 points in the first half, the Waves rallied to take a 61-60 lead with three minutes to go. But Pepperdine didn't have enough in the tank and the Dons closed the game on a 16-4 run.

Murray (Los Angeles, Calif./Bishop Montgomery HS), the WCC's leading scorer, scored a game-high 31 points. It was his fourth time this season and the fifth of his career eclipsing the 30-point mark. He's just the seventh Wave to post five 30-point games. He's now got 621 points this season, sixth-most in Pepperdine single-season history. He's averaging 20.7 points per game.

Taylor (Keller, Texas/Keller HS) had season highs of 20 points and 10 rebounds for his first career double-double.

The Waves' seniors were honored in a pregame ceremony and Murray wasn't the only one to leave on a high note. Senior guard Jeremy Major (Pasadena, Calif./Maranatha HS) scored 10 points and added five assists to his all-time Pepperdine record. Walk-ons Jonathan Allen (Nashville, Tenn./Ravenwood HS) and Kevin Hempy (Santa Barbara, Calif./San Marcos HS/Westmont) both started again. Allen had five rebounds and two steals, while Hempy had two points, five rebounds, three assists and three charges drawn.

The Waves were outshot 42.9% to 37.7% and once again the three-point line made a major difference. USF went 13-for-29, compared to 4-for-13 for Pepperdine.

Pepperdine took care of the ball, committing just eight turnovers to USF's 12, and enjoyed a 16-10 advantage in points off turnovers. USF, which brings several of its best players off the bench, had a 46-2 edge in bench points.

The Waves got off to a great start as Taylor made his first five shots and scored the team's first 11 points as Pepperdine broke out to an 11-3 lead. USF took its first lead at 19-17, and a stretch of 5 1/2 minutes where the Waves failed to score allowed the Dons to push the lead to 34-21. Pepperdine closed the gap to 39-33 at halftime. Murray (15) and Taylor (13) had 28 of Pepperdine's 33 points at the break.

Pepperdine tied the game a couple of times early in the second half, and although USF went up by as many as nine points at 54-45 with 9:30 to go, the Waves battled back again. Taylor tied it at 59 with 4:48 to play with two free throws, and Major scored on a lay-up with 3:15 left putting Pepperdine in front 61-60.

But the Dons immediately responded with a Frankie Ferrari three-pointer, and the Waves only scored two more times the rest of the way.

Pepperdine was again without Chris Reyes (heel), the team's second-leading scorer and top rebounder, plus fellow expected starters Amadi Udenyi (Achilles tendon), and Kameron Edwards (jaw), as well as Kaijae Yee-Stephens (ankle). The Waves have only eight available scholarship players.

The Waves will next be in action in the first round of the WCC Basketball Championships next Friday (March 3). Pepperdine is locked into the #8/9 game at 6 p.m. and the opponent will either be Pacific or San Diego, depending on results from later tonight. The game will be televised by BYUtv and shown on TheW.tv. There will also be an audio-only WaveCasts with Al Epstein at PepperdineWaves.com.