Final Stats | Photo Gallery

Box Score

MALIBU, California " Lamond Murray Jr. scored 26 points to lead five Waves in double-figures as the Pepperdine men's basketball team posted a solid 82-72 home victory over Pacific on Saturday evening in West Coast Conference play.

The Waves (7-17, 3-9) shot 50.9% from the field and had a +10 rebounding margin over the Tigers (8-17, 2-10).

Murray (Los Angeles, Calif./Bishop Montgomery HS), a senior guard who came into the game averaging 20.4 points, good for second in the WCC, made seven of 13 shots, including two three-pointers, and went 10-for-13 from the foul line. He also had eight rebounds and four assists. All this came despite some foul trouble that limited Murray to 28 minutes.

It was his 14th time scoring at least 20 points this season. The performance boosted Murray (1,326 points) into the Waves' top 20 on the all-time scoring list.

Freshman guard Knox Hellums (Tomball, Texas/Concordia Lutheran HS) came off the bench to make five of eight three-pointers en route to 15 points, his second-best output of the season. Senior guard Jeremy Major (Pasadena, Calif./Maranatha HS) also scored 15 points to go with four rebounds and four assists.

Senior forward Chris Reyes (La Verne, Calif./Damien HS/Utah) picked up his seventh double-double of the season with 10 points and 11 rebounds. Freshman guard Elijah Lee (Houston, Texas/HCYA Warriors) scored a career-high 10 points, all in the second half.

"What I liked most about tonight was how we took ownership of things," Pepperdine Coach Marty Wilson said. "We had better communication, our huddles were better, and we executed because we always had five guys on the same page. We talked about needing to make progress. After two bad losses, our guys kept their heads up, kept working, kept their enthusiasm, and got better today both offensively and defensively."

The Waves scored the first six points of the game and never trailed. At 14-9, the Waves held the Tigers scoreless for almost five minutes, and a 10-0 run that included three-pointers from Major and Hellums made it 24-9 with eight minutes to go in the half. Pepperdine's biggest lead of the first half was 17 points at 31-14 after another Hellums three-pointers. The Waves went into the break with a 34-23 advantage. The 23 points were the fewest given up in any half this season by the Waves.

Pepperdine kept a double-digit lead for most of the second half, and went up by as many as 18 points, first at 60-42 and again at 62-44 with 6:46 to play. The Tigers made it a nine-point game at 66-57 with under 4 1/2 minutes to play, but Major hit a three-pointer and then scored on a lay-up to push the lead back up to 14. Pacific again closed the gap late, getting the deficit down to as few as seven points in the final minute, before the Waves finished off the contest with their second double-digit victory of the season and their second in two weeks.

The Waves shot 50% or better in both halves. Pacific finished at 46.7% for the game after a late surge. Pepperdine made 10 three-pointers, the team's second-biggest output of the season, and connected on 21 attempts for a 47.6% success rate. Pacific went 6-for-24 (25.0%) from beyond the arc.

It was the first time this season the Waves had five players score in double-figures. Pacific had three, led by D.J. Ursery's 19 points.

Because of injuries, Pepperdine once again played with only nine scholarship players while dressing 12. Senior point guard Amadi Udenyi (Achilles tendon), sophomore forward Kameron Edwards (jaw) " both expected starters -- and freshman guard Kaijae Yee-Stephens (ankle) all remain out.

The Waves are home once again next Thursday (Feb. 9) against BYU. The game will be at 8 p.m. and will be shown on ESPNU. There will also be an audio-only WaveCasts with Al Epstein at PepperdineWaves.com.