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.