Waves Drop High-Scoring Home Game to CSUN

Saturday, December 12

Malibu, Calif.

6:00 p.m. PT

Pepperdine University

3-3

CSUN

3-1

Team	1	2	F
CSUN	42	47	89
Pepperdine	37	47	84

Kessler Edwards

Photo by: Martin A. Folb

12/12/2020 8:53:00 PM | Men's Basketball

Box Score Highlights Box Score Photo Gallery

By: by Athletic Communications

MALIBU, California – The Pepperdine men's basketball team had a late comeback attempt fall short, and CSUN won a high-scoring 89-84 battle in Firestone Fieldhouse on Saturday evening.

The Waves (3-3) battled back from a 10-point deficit and tied the game late, but couldn't retake the lead and the Matadors (3-1) scored the final five points of the contest from the foul line.

BIG WAVES

Senior guard Colbey Ross (Aurora, Colo./Eaglecrest HS) had 29 points, nine assists and five rebounds. He went 13-for-16 from the foul line.
Junior forward Kessler Edwards (Rancho Cucamonga, Calif./Etiwanda HS) had 21 points and nine rebounds.
Sophomore forward Jan Zidek (Prague, Czech Republic) had a season-high 15 points and sank three three-pointers.

KEY STATS

CSUN (50.7% shooting, 7-for-25 on three-pointers) and Pepperdine (49.1% shooting, 8-for-21 on three-pointers) put up similar numbers in those categories.
The Waves had the edge at the foul line (24-for-28 to 10-for-16).
The Matadors had the advantage with offensive rebounds (11 to eight) and turnovers (10 to 16), helping CSUN to shoot 18 more field goal attempts than Pepperdine.
The Matadors had an 18-7 edge in points off turnovers.
CSUN put all five starters in double-figures, led by TJ Starks' 24 points.

PLAY BY PLAY

The first half featured 10 lead changes and six ties, but the Waves' final lead of the game came at 30-29 with 7:48 left after a pair of free throws by sophomore guard Sedrick Altman (Rialto, Calif./Colony HS). CSUN went on an 11-2 run over the next 5 1/2 minutes to go up 40-32, and then took a 42-37 lead at the break.

The Matador lead grew to as many as 10 points in the second half, first at 61-51 and later at 68-58 with 10 1/2 minutes to play. Down 72-63, Ross scored the first four points and Edwards scored the final five of a 9-0 run that tied the game at 72 with under six minutes to play.

CSUN went back up by five a couple of times, but Pepperdine once again tied the game at 84 with 46 seconds left after Ross made two free throws. CSUN made one of two free throws on its next possession. With a chance to take the lead, the Waves missed on a three-point attempt. CSUN hit two more free throws with 19 seconds left to push the lead to three at 87-84. Another Pepperdine three-pointer was off the mark, and CSUN iced it with two more free throws with seven seconds remaining.

NOTABLES

Ross was honored pregame for becoming Pepperdine's all-time leading scorer on November 27 against UCLA.
The road team has won in each of the last four meetings between Pepperdine and CSUN. The Matadors are now 5-3 all-time in Firestone Fieldhouse.

UP NEXT

Pepperdine visits UNLV on Monday (Dec. 14) at 6:30 p.m. The game will be streamed online at UNLVRebels.com and there will be an audio-only WaveCasts at PepperdineWaves.com with Al Epstein on the call.