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Box Score

MALIBU, California " Colbey Ross scored 23 points but with a season-high four players out due to injury or illness, the Pepperdine men's basketball team didn't have enough to get past San Francisco in an 80-67 loss on Saturday afternoon in West Coast Conference play.

The Dons (10-7, 2-2 WCC) outscored the depleted Waves (3-13, 0-4 WCC) 42-4 in bench points.

BIG WAVES

• Freshman guard Colbey Ross (Aurora, Colo./Eaglecrest HS) led all scorers in the game and hit the 20-point mark for the fifth time this season. He made nine of 15 shots and both his three-point attempts. He also had five rebounds, three assists, two blocks and two steals.
• Junior guard Eric Cooper Jr. (Ontario, Calif./St. Anthony HS/Nevada) contributed 16 points, four rebounds and three assists.
• Junior forward Darnell Dunn (Kinston, N.C./Kinston HS/Miami Dade JC) scored 12 points, his second time this season in double-figures.
• Freshman guard Trae Berhow (Watertown, Minn./Watertown-Mayer HS) added 10 points and five rebounds.

KEY STATS

• USF shot 50.0% to Pepperdine's 44.7%. Both teams were above 50% in the second half (the Dons at 59.3%, the Waves at 52.4%).
• Fourteen Pepperdine turnovers contributed to the defeat, as the Dons made only seven and had a 17-8 edge in points off turnovers.
• The Dons had a 40-22 advantage in points in the paint.
• San Francisco had three players in double-figures, led by Jordan Ratinho's 20 points, seven rebounds and four steals.

PLAY BY PLAY

The Waves got off to another terrific start, scoring on each of their first five possessions, including three three-pointers, to go up 13-7 less than four minutes in. But Pepperdine then went scoreless for the next five-plus minutes, and a 10-0 USF run put the Dons ahead. It was tied at 20 after a Ross lay-up, but USF went ahead by as many as seven before going into the break with a 36-32 lead.

Pepperdine started the second half like the first, with Ross scoring five during a 7-0 run that put Pepperdine ahead 39-36 with 18:30 to play. A 9-2 run by the Dons would put them in front to stay, however.

USF went up by 10 at 54-44, through the Waves would close the gap to 54-51 with 10:18 to go. The Dons made seven straight shots from there, however, and that part of that contributed to an 11-0 run that would put USF ahead by 16 at 72-56 with under five minutes left.

NOTABLES

• Kameron Edwards (concussion), the Waves' leading scorer and rebounder, missed his seventh straight game. The Waves' three sophomores from Texas, Nolan Taylor (shoulder), Knox Hellums (illness) and Elijah Lee (illness) all missed their first game of the season.
• The Waves' total number of player-games missed due to injury or illness is up to 40 this season. Pepperdine hasn't had its expected starting lineup available for a single game this season.
• USF won for the sixth straight season in Firestone Fieldhouse.

HIGHLIGHTS

UP NEXT

The Waves will next visit BYU on Thursday (Jan. 11) for a 6 p.m. PT / 7 p.m. MT tipoff. It will be shown on BYUtv and there will be an audio-only WaveCasts with Al Epstein.