MALIBU, California – Despite 24 points and 11 assists from Colbey Ross, the Pepperdine men's basketball team couldn't get enough defensive stops on Monday night and CSUN came into Firestone Fieldhouse and posted a 90-83 victory.
 
The Waves (5-3) saw their three-game winning streak come to an end as they were outshot 52.9% to 42.0% by the Matadors (2-5).
 
BIG WAVES

• Sophomore guard Colbey Ross (Aurora, Colo./Eaglecrest HS) posted his second point-assist double-double in the last three games. He was one point off his career high, while he matched his career best in assists set two games ago. He connected on his first five three-point attempts and finished 5-for-7 from deep.
• Senior guard Eric Cooper Jr. (Ontario, Calif./St. Anthony HS/Nevada) made four three-pointers and scored 17 points.
• Senior forward Darnell Dunn (Kinston, N.C./Kinston HS/Miami Dade JC) had 12 points and a team-high eight rebounds.

• Sophomore guard Jade' Smith (Oakland, Calif./St. Joseph Notre Dame HS) had nine points and five rebounds in eight first-half minutes but left due to an injury and did not return.

KEY STATS

• CSUN shot 58.1% in the first half and 48.6% in the second. The Waves were at 42.4% and 41.7%.
• Pepperdine made a season-high 12 three-pointers, while CSUN only had five.
• Pepperdine finished with 12 turnovers to CSUN's 16.
• CSUN's Lamine Diane had a monster game with 29 points, 12 rebounds and three blocked shots. Darius Brown II had 20 points and nine assists. The Matadors put four players in double-figures.

PLAY BY PLAY
 
The Waves led for much of the first half and built a 10-point lead on multiple occasions, first at 23-13 and again at 25-15 and 27-17. Smith had each of the Waves' baskets in this stretch but left the game soon after the last one. A late CSUN rally put the Matadors ahead 44-42 at halftime.
 
A basket by Dunn and a three-pointer by Ross put the Waves in front 57-52 with 16 minutes left, but a 17-2 CSUN run over nearly six minutes changed the complexion of the game. That put the Matadors ahead 69-59. The Waves would get no closer than six the rest of the way, while CSUN would go up by as many as 17 late.
 
NOTABLES

• Junior forward Kameron Edwards (Rancho Cucamonga, Calif./Etiwanda HS) who came into the game as the Waves' second-leading scorer, missed his fourth game in a row and his fifth of the season due to injury.
• CSUN closed the gap in the all-time series to 10-9 in the Waves' favor.
• This was "First Responders Appreciation Night" at Pepperdine after the recent Woolsey Fire.
• Former Pepperdine head coach Jim Harrick is now an assistant at CSUN. Between he, Pepperdine Coach Lorenzo Romar and CSUN Coach Mark Gottfried, three-quarters of the UCLA coaching staff that won the 1995 NCAA title were in the building.

UP NEXT
 
The Waves are in the midst of four games in eight days. They visit UC Riverside on Thursday (Dec. 6) at 7 p.m., and then return home on Saturday (Dec. 8) to face Jackson State at 7 p.m. Al Epstein will have the call on both games via WaveCasts at PepperdineWaves.com.