MALIBU, California – Both the Pepperdine and Idaho State men's basketball teams shot the ball very well on Monday night, but the Waves took far better care of the ball, and the result was a 97-82 non-conference victory for Pepperdine in Firestone Fieldhouse.
 
Pepperdine (4-2) committed only three turnovers, its fewest since 2004, and recorded 25 assists on 36 baskets. On the other end, the Waves forced 16 turnovers by the Bengals (2-3).
 
BIG WAVES

• Senior guard Eric Cooper Jr. (Ontario, Calif./St. Anthony HS/Nevada) scored a game-high 23 points and sank four three-pointers.
• Sophomore guard Colbey Ross (Aurora, Colo./Eaglecrest HS) posted the team's first double-double of the season, and the first of his career. He scored 18 points and handed out a career-high 11 assists. It's the second time in his career that he's reached double-figures in assists. Ten of his points came from the foul line.
• Freshman forward Kessler Edwards (Rancho Cucamonga, Calif./Etiwanda HS) scored a season-high 18 points on 8-for-10 shooting and had a team-high seven rebounds.
• Senior forward Darnell Dunn (Kinston, N.C./Kinston HS/Miami Dade JC) scored 14 points.
• Sophomore guard Jade' Smith (Oakland, Calif./St. Joseph Notre Dame HS) scored 11 points.
• Freshman guard Darryl Polk Jr. (Long Beach, Calif./Long Beach Poly HS) had six points, five assists and three steals.

KEY STATS

• The Waves (36-for-68) had 12 more shot attempts than the Bengals (30-for-56), though Idaho State outshot the Waves 53.6% to 52.9% and made 11 three-pointers to the Waves' eight,
• Pepperdine had an advantage at the foul line, going 17-for-27 to ISU's 11-for-22.
• Pepperdine's ball-handling advantage led to a 22-4 edge in points off turnovers.
• The Waves committed zero first-half turnovers to Idaho State's eight.
• Both teams shot better than 65% in the first half before cooling off to the 40s in the second half.
• Idaho State had four players score in double-figures, led by Brandon Boyd's 21.

PLAY BY PLAY
 
Idaho State got off to a good start, going in front 13-6 and then 23-14 just eight minutes into the game. Cooper Jr. then scored the first five points of a 10-3 run to close the gap. Later, an 8-0 run put the Waves ahead to stay at 39-35. The Waves scored the final four points of the half to go into the break with a 52-43 lead.
 
The Bengals got no closer than five points in the second half, at 61-56 with 15 minutes left. The Waves then went on an 18-3 run, with seven points by Smith, to take their biggest lead of the night at 20 at 79-59 with under 10 minutes to go.


 
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 in a row and his third of the season due to injury.
• Pepperdine is now a perfect 5-0 all-time against Idaho State.
• All three Idaho State losses this season have come to WCC teams (Gonzaga and Pacific).

 QUOTABLE
 
Pepperdine Coach Lorenzo Romar said: "We've been working on execution and precision offensively, and we didn't try to force anything. One of the things we feel strongly about is you have to share the basketball, and offensively, we did a fine job of that. We moved the ball, we converted, we took good shots and only took a couple of bad shots."





UP NEXT
 
Pepperdine is in the midst of a three-game homestand. Next up is Abilene Christian on Saturday (December 1) at 5 p.m. The game will be shown on TheW.tv with Al Epstein on the call.