NASSAU, Bahamas – The Pepperdine men's basketball team closed out the Islands of the Bahamas Showcase with a comeback for the ages, rallying from 18 points down in the second half and scoring the game's final eight points to beat Miami (Ohio) 86-80 in the third-place game on Sunday.
The Waves (3-2) trailed the RedHawks (2-3) 46-33 at halftime and 65-47 with 13 minutes left. But Pepperdine outscored Miami 39-15 the rest of the way.
There were five lead changes in the final five minutes, but a three-pointer by freshman forward
Kessler Edwards (Rancho Cucamonga, Calif./Etiwanda HS) put the Waves ahead to stay at 81-80 with 1:44 left.
BIG WAVES
- Sophomore guard Colbey Ross (Aurora, Colo./Eaglecrest HS) tied his career high with 25 points, including a number of big baskets late. He also had five assists.
- Junior forward Darnell Dunn (Kinston, N.C./Kinston HS/Miami Dade JC) tied his career high with 18 points. He made a career-best four three-pointers.
- Senior guard Eric Cooper Jr. (Ontario, Calif./St. Anthony HS/Nevada) also sank four three-pointers and scored 17 points.
- Freshman forward Kessler Edwards (Rancho Cucamonga, Calif./Etiwanda HS) notched a season-high 14 points.
KEY STATS
- The Waves shot 33.3% in the first half and 57.1% in the second half, good for 46.8% overall.
- Miami shot 51.5% in the first half and 36.7% in the second half, good for 44.4% overall.
- The bigger RedHawks had a 23-11 rebounding edge in the first half, though the Waves closed the overall deficit to 40-33 in the end.
- Miami made 11 three-pointers on 31 attempts, and the Waves were 10-for-30.
- Pepperdine forced 14 turnovers and committed only nine.
- Miami had four players score in double-figures, led by Nike Sibande's 17 points.
PLAY BY PLAY
Miami built a 20-10 lead less than 10 minutes into the contest, but the Waves came roaring back with 10 straight points – three-pointers by Cooper Jr. and Dunn, and four points from freshman guard
Darryl Polk Jr. (Long Beach, Calif./Long Beach Poly HS) – to tie the game at 20 with eight minutes left in the half.
Pepperdine took their only leads of the first half at 23-22 after another Cooper Jr. three-pointer, and again at 25-24 after two Ross free throws with less than seven minutes to go.
But it was then the RedHawks' turn to go on a 10-point run. The Waves made only one field goal in the final seven minutes. Miami scored the final seven points of the half to go into the break with a 46-33 lead.
The RedHawks increased the lead to 18 points multiple times early in the second half, first at 51-33, again at 60-42 and finally at 65-47.
That's when things turned around completely, however. Cooper Jr., Edwards and Dunn hit back-to-back-to-back three-pointers, and Ross scored in the paint for an 11-0 run, making it 65-58 with 11 minutes left. Later, a 7-0 run, again with baskets by Dunn, Cooper Jr. and Edwards, made it 71-69 with six minutes left.
Another 7-0 run finally put the Waves in front. Ross scored to make it a two-point game, Cooper Jr. converted a three-point play and Dunn scored in the paint to put Pepperdine ahead 76-73 with 3 1/2 minutes to go.
The lead went back and forth a couple of times, with Miami taking its final lead at 80-78 on a Mekhi Lairy three-pointer with just over two minutes left.
That would be the RedHawks' final points, however. Edwards sank a three-pointer with 1:44 left to put Pepperdine ahead 81-80. As the Waves were getting defensive stops, Ross hit a couple of close-range shots with high degrees of difficulty to put Pepperdine up 85-80 with less than 30 seconds to go. The Waves made Miami miss its final three shots while forcing one turnover.
NOTABLES
- Junior forward Kameron Edwards (Rancho Cucamonga, Calif./Etiwanda HS) who came into the game as the Waves' second-leading scorer, missed his second game of the season due to injury.
- Polk made his first career start and he had six points and three assists.
- This was the first-ever meeting between the Waves and RedHawks.
- The Waves beat Towson 74-65 in the first round and lost to Georgia Southern 88-78 in the semifinals. The last time the Waves won twice in a three-day event was 2009. Third place was Pepperdine's best finish in a three-day, eight-team tournament since 1999.
- The Waves left Malibu with the Pepperdine campus under distress from the Woolsey Fire. Fans can support Pepperdine students who have been affected or displaced by visiting impact.pepperdine.edu/crisisresponse and making a donation.
QUOTABLE
Pepperdine Coach
Lorenzo Romar said: "The assistants were on me, we've got to something different. We decided to go zone. If we didn't go zone, the outcome would have been different. They began to miss shots finally, they didn't play with as much of a flow like they were playing with before. Our guys really went in and scrapped, rebounded the basketball, and then we started to hit shots. It was a real team effort, a team comeback, something I don't think our guys won't forget for a long time."
UP NEXT
Pepperdine returns home for the next three games, starting with a contest a week from Monday (November 26) against Idaho State at 7 p.m. The game will be shown on TheW.tv with Al Epstein on the call.
