MALIBU, California – Colbey Ross and Darnell Dunn combined for 27 second-half points to help the Pepperdine men's basketball team rally to a 69-66 victory over visiting Jackson State on Saturday evening.
 
The Waves (6-4) trailed the Tigers (1-8) 33-29 at halftime and by as many as eight early in the second half before coming back for their sixth victory of the season, matching the team's entire 2017-18 win total in just the 10th game.
 
BIG WAVES

• Sophomore guard Colbey Ross (Aurora, Colo./Eaglecrest HS) scored a game-high 21 points, with 14 of them coming in the second half. He also had six assists and five rebounds and shot 10-for-12 from the foul line. It was his fifth 20-point game of the season.
• Senior forward Darnell Dunn (Kinston, N.C./Kinston HS/Miami Dade JC) finished one point shy of his career high with 17 points, 13 of which came in the second half.
• Sophomore guard Jade' Smith (Oakland, Calif./St. Joseph Notre Dame HS) contributed 12 points and seven rebounds.
• Freshman forward Kessler Edwards (Rancho Cucamonga, Calif./Etiwanda HS) pulled down a game-high-tying 11 rebounds and scored seven points.

KEY STATS 

• After shooting 36.7% in the first half, the Waves improved to 48.1% in the second half and finished at 42.1% overall.
• Jackson State went from 38.2% in the first half to 52.0% in the second half and finished at 44.1%.
• The WCC's top three-point shooting team had an uncharacteristic night from beyond the arc, as the Waves went 5-for-23 (21.7%). Jackson State went 7-for-21 (33.3%).
• Pepperdine was much more successful getting to the foul line, where the Waves went 16-for-21 to JSU's 7-for-11.
• Jackson State was led by Jontrell Walker's 15 points and Venjile Wallis' 11 points.

PLAY BY PLAY
 
With a 19-16 lead, the Waves scored the next six points to take their biggest lead of the game at 25-16 with 5 1/2 minutes remaining in the first half. But after Smith scored with 5:06 left to make it 27-19, Pepperdine wouldn't get another field goal the rest of the way, and Jackson State went into halftime with a 33-29 lead with the help of a 12-0 run.
 
The Tigers scored the first two baskets of the second half to make it 37-29, and it was again an eight-point lead at 39-31. Three-pointers by Dunn, Ross and freshman guard Darryl Polk Jr. (Long Beach, Calif./Long Beach Poly HS) sparked an 11-0 run, however, putting Pepperdine back in front 42-39 with less than 14 minutes to go.
 
Jackson State would never lead again, but Pepperdine couldn't put the Tigers away either. JSU tied it at 55-55 with 6 1/2 minutes left, but Ross scored on lay-up and Dunn converted a three-point play to push the lead back up to five at 60-55 with 5:46 left.
 
The Waves led by four with under a minute to play but JSU's Walker made three free throws with 35 seconds left, cutting the Pepperdine lead to one at 65-64. Jackson State had a chance to take the lead after a Pepperdine turnover, but the Tigers gave the ball right back with eight seconds remaining. Ross went 4-for-4 from the line in the final seconds to ice the victory.
 
QUOTABLE
 
Pepperdine Coach Lorenzo Romar said: "We obviously are a work in progress but when you can come away with a victory, you move on. We've got finals coming up and a week to get ready for our next games. We got through it, so we're moving on."
 
NOTABLES

• Junior forward Kameron Edwards (Rancho Cucamonga, Calif./Etiwanda HS) who came into the game as the Waves' second-leading scorer, missed his sixth game in a row and his seventh of the season due to injury.
• This was the first-ever meeting between the two schools.

UP NEXT
 
After a week off for finals, Pepperdine plays its next three games on the road. Next up is a contest at Southern Utah next Saturday (Dec. 15) at 12 p.m. PT / 1 p.m. MT. Al Epstein will have the call via WaveCasts at PepperdineWaves.com.