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Box Score

MALIBU, California " The Pepperdine men's basketball team hung with Saint Mary's for a while, but the West Coast Conference-leading Gaels couldn't be stopped in a 91-67 loss on Saturday evening.

The Gaels (17-2, 6-0 WCC) shot 66.7% from the field, tying the Firestone Fieldhouse record by an opponent. The Waves (3-15, 0-6) were missing three key players again.

BIG WAVES

• Junior guard Eric Cooper Jr. (Ontario, Calif./St. Anthony HS/Nevada) matched his season high of 19 points.
• Freshman guard Colbey Ross (Aurora, Colo./Eaglecrest HS) added 16 points, five assists and three steals.
• Junior forward Harrison Meads (New Plymouth, New Zealand) had a season-high nine points.
• Senior center Matthew Atewe (Toronto, Ontario, Canada/Washington) posted eight points and five rebounds.
• Senior guard Amadi Udenyi (Oakland, Calif./De La Salle HS) had five assists, moving him into a tie for fifth place on the Waves' all-time list.

KEY STATS

• The Gaels shot 64.3% in the first and 69.2% in the second. They made half of their 14 three-pointers.
• Pepperdine finished at 43.5% shooting for the game.
• The Waves had their best game of the season when it came to turnovers. They committed a season-low four while forcing 15 against one of the nation's best teams in terms of taking care of the ball. That led to a 15-6 edge in points off turnovers.
• Because of Saint Mary's impressive shooting, the Gaels had a 38-19 edge on the boards.
• SMC big man Jock Landale had 32 points (21 in the first half) and 12 rebounds. Jordan Ford had a career-high 20 points. Emmett Naar had 14 assists, one shy of the Firestone Fieldhouse record by an opponent.

PLAY BY PLAY

The first 13 minutes were hugely entertaining, with both teams playing well, nine lead changes and no more than a four-point margin separating the schools. The Waves led for five of those minutes, and took their last lead at 24-22 with seven minutes to play off a basket by Meads.

Things took a bad turn from there, unfortunately, as the Gaels went on a 12-1 run to make it 34-25. A 9-1 run in the final two minutes of the first half made it 47-32 at the break.

After Ross got the first bucket of the second half, the Gaels scored the next eight points and kept the game's margin in the 20s for pretty much the remainder of the game.

NOTABLES

• The same three injured Waves were out on Saturday. Kameron Edwards (concussion), the Waves' leading scorer and rebounder, missed his ninth straight game. Nolan Taylor (shoulder) and Jade' Smith (concussion) were out for the third and second game in a row, respectively.
• The Waves' total number of player-games missed due to injury or illness is up to 46 this season. Pepperdine hasn't had its expected starting lineup available for a single game this season.

HIGHLIGHTS

UP NEXT

Pepperdine is on the road for two games in Northern California next weekend. The Waves visit Pacific on Thursday (Jan. 18) and San Francisco on Saturday (Jan. 20). Both games will be at 7 p.m., will be shown on TheW.tv and will have audio-only WaveCasts with Al Epstein.