MALIBU, California – The Pepperdine men's basketball team made one nice comeback to negate Saint Mary's hot start, but the Waves couldn't make a second one late as the Gaels earned a 78-69 West Coast Conference victory on Saturday afternoon.
 
Pepperdine (9-10, 2-3) fell behind by as many as 17 points in the first half before rallying within two points early in the second half. But the Gaels (16-4, 3-2) quickly regained momentum and went back up by 16 before the Waves cut it to a nine-point margin at the end.
 
The WCC's top two scorers, the Gaels' Jordan Ford and the Waves' Colbey Ross, both surpassed their season averages and finished with 26 and 24 points, respectively.
 
BIG WAVES

• Junior guard Colbey Ross (Aurora, Colo./Eaglecrest HS) had his 10th game of the season scoring 20 or more points, as well as his fourth game in a row. He also recorded seven rebounds and six assists.
• Senior forward Kameron Edwards (Rancho Cucamonga, Calif./Etiwanda HS) had 17 points and nine rebounds. He made both of his three-point attempts.
• Junior guard Skylar Chavez (Woodacre, Calif./Drake HS/Santa Rosa JC) scored 10 points.
• Sophomore forward Kessler Edwards (Rancho Cucamonga, Calif./Etiwanda HS) had eight points, five rebounds and three blocks.

KEY STATS 

• The Gaels outshot the Waves 51.8% to 46.4%. Saint Mary's shot 57.1% in the first half after a hot start.
• Saint Mary's made eight of 11 three-pointers in the first half and finished at 9-for-17 (52.9%). Pepperdine went 4-for-20 (20.0%).
• Both teams made only seven turnovers.

PLAY BY PLAY
 
It was 12-4 Gaels a little more than three minutes in. Saint Mary's made seven of its first eight shots, and back-to-back three-pointers pushed the lead to 23-11. The first-half lead grew to 17 points, first at 36-19. A 14-2 Pepperdine run late got the deficit down to five before Saint Mary's went into the break with a 43-35 lead.
 
The Waves began the second half on a 10-4 run, and a Ross basket made it a two-point game at 47-45 with 16 minutes left. But Saint Mary's scored the next five points, then turned it into a 15-2 run to go back ahead 62-47 with 11 minutes to go. The Gaels' biggest second-half lead was 16 points at 68-52 with seven minutes to go. Pepperdine would only get back as close as eight points with about a minute and a half to play.
 
NOTABLES 

• The Waves were once again limited to eight available scholarship players, and only seven saw action. It's the sixth time this season they've missed at least four players due to injury or illness, including each of the last four games. It's also the 16th time in 19 games they've been without multiple players.
• Colbey Ross passed Pepperdine assistant coach Gerald Brown for 14th place on the Waves' all-time scoring list.
• Saint Mary's Coach Randy Bennett (a former Pepperdine assistant) won his 200th WCC game.
• This will be the only regular-season game between the Waves and Gaels this season.

UP NEXT
 
Pepperdine next visits Santa Clara on Thursday (Jan. 23) at 7 p.m. There will be an audio-only WaveCasts with Al Epstein at PepperdineWaves.com.