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Box Score

SPOKANE, Washington -- Colbey Ross wrote another chapter in one of the best freshman seasons in Pepperdine men's basketball history and the Waves gave #9 Gonzaga all it could handle on its own court for 33-plus minutes, but the Bulldogs eventually pulled away for an 81-67 West Coast Conference victory on Saturday.

It was a two-point game with 7:30 left, quieting the usually loud McCarthey Athletic Center crowd. But the Waves (4-24, 1-15) then went through an ill-timed drought, not scoring again for 6 1/2 minutes as the heavily favored Bulldogs (25-4, 15-1) finally put the game out of reach to remain in sole possession of first place in the WCC.

BIG WAVES

• Freshman guard Colbey Ross (Aurora, Colo./Eaglecrest HS) scored a game-high 21 points on 8-for-14 shooting and added six assists. He was the only Wave in double-figures. He already had the Pepperdine freshman record for assists in a season and he now has 158, moving him up to 10th on the Waves' overall single-season list.
• Freshman guard Trae Berhow (Watertown, Minn./Watertown-Mayer HS) had nine points and seven rebounds.
• Sophomore forward Kameron Edwards (Rancho Cucamonga, Calif./Etiwanda HS) had eight points and five rebounds.
• Senior center Matthew Atewe (Toronto, Ontario, Canada/Washington) had seven points and nine rebounds.
• Junior forward Darnell Dunn (Kinston, N.C./Kinston HS/Miami Dade JC) scored nine points.

KEY STATS

• Gonzaga finished with a shooting edge of 51.7% to 41.4%, but was an even-more impressive 56.5% (13-for-23) shooting from distance. The Waves made eight of 19 (42.1%) from three.
• In the first meeting this season Gonzaga had a 48-14 edge in points in the paint but tonight it was just 30-26.
• The Waves committed only nine turnovers while the Bulldogs had eight.
• Gonzaga put four players in double-figures, led by Johnathan Williams' double-double with 18 points and 12 rebounds.

PLAY BY PLAY

Ross scored the Waves' first six points and it was tied 6-6 after the first few minutes, but Gonzaga scored the next seven points and would steadily increase the lead up to as many as 14 at 26-12. At 29-16 with 5 1/2 minutes left, the Waves played some strong ball down the stretch, cutting the deficit to five points at 37-32 before the Zags went into the break up 39-32.

A hot start to the second half saw the Bulldogs push the lead back up to 14 again at 52-38 and 54-40, but once again the Waves responded. An 11-3 run capped off by an Atewe dunk make it 60-56 with 9:30 to go. The teams traded three-pointers for a bit, but after a stop, Amadi Udenyi found Berhow for a lay-up with 7:30 left, making it 66-64.

Unfortunately, the Waves fell into one of the extended droughts that have plagued them all season long, and they missed their next seven shots. An 11-0 Gonzaga run put the game out of reach before Ross sank a three-pointer with 1:04 left.

NOTABLES

• Per the usual, two players were out with Harrison Meads (concussion) and Nolan Taylor (season-ending shoulder surgery) on the sidelines. This was the 21st time in 28 games that the Waves have had multiple key rotation players out.

UP NEXT

The final week of the regular season begins with the Waves visiting Saint Mary's on Thursday (Feb. 22) at 7 p.m. It will be shown on TheW.tv and there will be an audio-only WaveCasts with Al Epstein on the call at PepperdineWaves.com. This will be Epstein's 1,000th consecutive broadcast with the Waves.