SAN DIEGO, California – Kessler Edwards had another big showing with 22 points, but the Pepperdine men's basketball team couldn't hold off San Diego State's second-half charge as the Waves fell 65-60 on Sunday afternoon.
A terrific defensive effort early helped Pepperdine (2-2) to a 34-20 advantage at halftime and a lead of as many as 16 points in the second half, but SDSU (4-0) turned the game around completely in the final 14 minutes.
BIG WAVES
- Junior forward Kessler Edwards (Rancho Cucamonga, Calif./Etiwanda HS) made his first five three-point attempts of the game. He also had five rebounds, two blocks and two steals. It was his second 20-point game of the young season. The five threes tied his career high.
- Senior guard Colbey Ross (Aurora, Colo./Eaglecrest HS) finished with 10 points, seven assists, four rebounds and two steals.
- Junior guard Jade' Smith (Oakland, Calif./St. Joseph Notre Dame HS) scored 12 points and went 6-for-9 from the field but fouled out with 6:46 left.
- Grad transfer forward Kene Chukwuka (Stockholm, Sweden/Pitt) had 11 points, six rebounds and two steals.
KEY STATS
- Pepperdine shot 42.6% for the game (52.0% in the first half, 34.5% in the second half).
- San Diego State shot 42.0% for the game (36.4% in the first half, 46.4% in the second half).
- The Waves fared better from the three-point line (7-for-21 vs. 2-for-19).
- SDSU had a big advantage getting to the free throw line (21-for-31, including 18-for-23 in the second half, to the Waves' 7-for-10).
- The Aztecs had a 38-27 rebounding edge and outscored the Waves 19-3 in second-chance points.
- San Diego State had three players score in double-figures, led by Jordan Schakel's 17 points.
PLAY BY PLAY
The Waves got out to about as good a start defensively as could be imagined. San Diego State missed its first four shots and committed six turnovers, while the Waves jumped out to an 8-0 lead more than six minutes into the game. Pepperdine went up by double-digits at 15-5 on a corner three by Chukwuka with a little more than 10 minutes to play. SDSU's 10th point didn't come until 13 1/2 minutes in, when it was 17-12. A pair of Edwards three-pointers pushed Pepperdine's lead to 25-14, and another Edwards trey made it 32-16. It was 34-20 at the break.
Edwards' fourth and fifth three-pointers of the game made it 47-31 with a little more than 16 minutes to play, but the Waves' offense went cold. They scored just four points over the next 12 1/2 minutes, and the Aztecs went on a 24-4 run to erase the 16-point deficit. They took the lead for the first time in the contest with 6:17 to play and went up 55-51 at the end of the run. The Waves scored the next three points to get back to a one-point game at 55-54 with 2:53 left, but SDSU went up 61-55 and Pepperdine's next field goal wouldn't come until 31 seconds were left.
NOTABLES
- This was Pepperdine's first game against the Aztecs since the 1994-95 season. But it was also the Waves' third game in Viejas Arena in 12 days after beginning the season in SDSU's multi-team event.
- In their first four games of the season the Waves have played the preseason favorites for the Big West (UC Irvine), Pac-12 (UCLA) and Mountain West (SDSU).
UP NEXT
Pepperdine hosts California on Wednesday (Dec. 9) at 6 p.m. in Firestone Fieldhouse. It'll be the first time a Pac-12 school has visited Malibu since November 2012. The game will be televised by CBS Sports Network and there will be a live-audio WaveCasts with Al Epstein at PepperdineWaves.com.
