Waves Knock Off UCI With Remarkable Game-Ending Rally

Saturday, November 9

Malibu, Calif.

5:00 p.m. PT

Pepperdine University

1-1

UC Irvine

1-1

Team	1	2	F
UC Irvine	41	32	73
Pepperdine	38	39	77

Kameron Edwards

Photo by: Martin A. Folb

Waves Knock Off UCI With Remarkable Game-Ending Rally

11/9/2019 8:45:00 PM | Men's Basketball

Box Score Highlights Box Score

By: by Athletic Communications

MALIBU, California – Kameron Edwards spearheaded a remarkable comeback win for the Pepperdine men's basketball team at Saturday's home opener, as the Waves outscored UC Irvine 13-0 over the final two-plus minutes to post a 77-73 comeback victory in Firestone Fieldhouse.

Edwards had team highs of 21 points and 10 rebounds and his three-pointer with 44 seconds left put the Waves in front 75-73.

The Waves (1-1) made three three-pointers and hit all four of their shots after falling behind the Anteaters (1-1), a 2019 NCAA Tournament team, by nine points with a little more than two minutes to go.

BIG WAVES

Senior forward Kameron Edwards (Rancho Cucamonga, Calif./Etiwanda HS) recorded his sixth career double-double and his second career 20 & 10 game.
Sophomore forward Kessler Edwards (Rancho Cucamonga, Calif./Etiwanda HS) scored 16 points while making three three-pointers, and added six rebounds and two blocks.
Junior guard Colbey Ross (Aurora, Colo./Eaglecrest HS) recorded 13 points and eight assists.
Junior guard Skylar Chavez (Woodacre, Calif./Drake HS/Santa Rosa JC) knocked down three three-pointers and scored 13 points.
Sophomore guard Darryl Polk Jr. (Long Beach, Calif./Long Beach Poly HS) was on the floor for the game-winning run and though he only scored two points, he had a +11 plus-minus.

KEY STATS

The Anteaters outshot the Waves, 46.4% to 42.9%, but Pepperdine's defense was much improved in the second half, holding UCI to 37.9% after the break.
The Waves made nine three-pointers on 39.1% shooting and held UCI to 5-for-16 (31.3%).
Pepperdine went 20-for-25 from the foul line (UCI was 16-for-24).
UC Irvine got a game-high 26 points from Eyassu Worku.

PLAY BY PLAY

UC Irvine broke out to an early lead and took its largest lead of the game at 30-17 with nine minutes left in the first half, and again at 35-22 with six minutes left in the half. The Waves closed the first half strong, cutting the deficit to three at 41-38.

The Waves scored the first seven points of the second half to go ahead 45-41, and their biggest lead of the game was five points at 56-51 after sophomore center Victor Ohia Obioha (Owerri, Nigeria/Hillcrest HS) scored in the paint.

UCI regained the lead at 59-58 with under eight minutes to play, and the lead slowly grew to nine points at 73-64 with a little more than two minutes left.

Everything changed from there, however, as Kessler Edwards started the run with a three-pointer with 2:02 to go. After a turnover, Ross sank a three-pointer to make it 73-70. After another turnover, Kameron Edwards scored in the paint to cut it to one at 73-72 with 1:10 left.

The Anteaters missed the front end of a one-and-one, and Kameron Edwards made a three-pointer to put the Waves up 75-73 with 44 seconds to go. UCI missed on its next shot attempt, and Ross was able to ice the game with two free throws with six seconds left.

NOTABLES

Pepperdine won its ninth consecutive home opener.
The Waves are now 13-10 all-time against the Anteaters.
Ross, who was named to the Lou Henson Award watch list for the nation's top mid-major player earlier this week, raised his career assist total to 433 and passed Amadi Udenyi (426) for fourth place on the Waves' all-time list. He's now 61 behind Jeremy Major's school record (494).

UP NEXT

Pepperdine plays the next three games on the road, starting at CSUN on Tuesday (Nov. 12) at 7 p.m.