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Box Score

MORAGA, California " #22 Saint Mary's had it going from long range on Thursday night and the result for the Pepperdine men's basketball team was a 75-61 road defeat in West Coast Conference play.

The Gaels (26-4, 15-2) hit nine three-pointers in the first half to build a 20-point lead at the break, and finished with 13 for the game. The Waves (4-25, 1-16) played a much better second half but couldn't put a huge dent in the final margin.

BIG WAVES

• Freshman guard Trae Berhow (Watertown, Minn./Watertown-Mayer HS) scored 13 points on 5-for-6 shooting with two three-pointers.
• Sophomore guard Knox Hellums (Tomball, Texas/Concordia Lutheran HS) matched his season high of 13 points and made three three-pointers.
• Freshman guard Colbey Ross (Aurora, Colo./Eaglecrest HS) added five assists to his freshman record total, and with 163, he's now up to #9 on the Waves' overall single-season list.
• Sophomore forward Kameron Edwards (Rancho Cucamonga, Calif./Etiwanda HS) just missed a double-double with nine points and nine rebounds.
• Junior forward Darnell Dunn (Kinston, N.C./Kinston HS/Miami Dade JC) scored eight points.

KEY STATS

• Pepperdine shot 32% in the first half and 48% in the second (including four of their five three-pointers) for 39.6% overall.
• Saint Mary's shot 50% in the first half (and was 9-for-15 from three) and 40% in the second for 45.3% overall.
• Both teams took care of the ball, with four turnovers by Pepperdine and three by Saint Mary's.
• Saint Mary's put four players into double-figures, led by Jordan Ford's 18 points and 10 rebounds.

PLAY BY PLAY

The Waves trailed 8-6 after a pair of Amadi Udenyi free throws, but then the Gaels scored 11 points over a minute and a half, quickly extending the lead to 19-6. Pepperdine only got it down to single-digits once at 28-19 after a Udenyi lay-up, and the Gaels eventually went into the break with a 46-26 advantage.

Saint Mary's went up by 27 at 59-32, but the Waves played tough the rest of the way. A 9-0 run with two three-pointers by Hellums and one by Berhow made it 67-51, and the deficit was eventually pared down to 13 at 69-56 with less than three minutes to go after a Berhow jumper.

NOTABLES

• Four scholarship players were unavailable tonight. In addition to Harrison Meads (concussion) and Nolan Taylor (season-ending shoulder surgery), the Waves were also missing Eric Cooper Jr. (shoulder) and Elijah Lee (illness). This was the 22nd time in 29 games that the Waves have had multiple key rotation players out.
• Pepperdine Hall of Fame broadcaster Al Epstein called his 1,000th consecutive game for the Waves tonight.

QUOTABLE

Pepperdine Coach Marty Wilson said: "Saint Mary's did a great job of punching it inside, especially early, and then made us pay with our rotations. Our rotations were delayed or slow, and that allowed them to get into a rhythm and shoot their threes. Or we'd overrun our closeouts, and they'd get dribble penetration, and that let them get either a lay-up or a dunk, or kick it out for a three. In the second half we talked about us just playing harder. If you play a top 25 team on the road, you have to play harder than them to give yourself a chance, and we held them under 30 points in the second half."

UP NEXT

The regular-season finale will be Saturday (Feb. 24) at 5 p.m. against Portland in Firestone Fieldhouse. It will be shown on TheW.tv and there will be an audio-only WaveCasts with Al Epstein on the call at PepperdineWaves.com.