MALIBU, California – Colbey Ross added another indelible moment to his brilliant career, sinking a game-winning three-pointer at the buzzer, as the Pepperdine men's basketball team pulled off another comeback victory with a 72-69 West Coast Conference win over San Diego on Thursday night.
The Waves (14-12, 7-5) trailed by as many as 12 in the second half. They never had a second-half lead against the Toreros (9-18, 2-10) until Ross' buzzer-beating three-pointer from the top of the key, which followed a USD three-point miss at the other end.
BIG WAVES
- Junior guard Colbey Ross (Aurora, Colo./Eaglecrest HS) scored 17 of his team-high 21 points in the second half. He was 8-for-12 shooting and 3-for-5 on three-pointers. He also had eight assists and three steals. It was his third straight game scoring 20 or more points and his 14th time this season reaching that plateau.
- Senior forward Kameron Edwards (Rancho Cucamonga, Calif./Etiwanda HS) had 14 points and eight rebounds.
- Freshman guard Sedrick Altman (Rialto, Calif./Colony HS) set a career high for the second straight game with 14 points. He also had a career-high nine rebounds as well as two steals.
- Sophomore center Victor Ohia Obioha (Owerri, Nigeria/Hillcrest HS) had eight points and six rebounds.
KEY STATS
- The Waves outshot the Toreros 50.0% to 43.1%. In the second half, it was 51.6% to 32.3% in Pepperdine's favor.
- USD's edge came from the three-point line, where the Toreros went 10-for-27 to the Waves' 4-for-15.
- The Waves forced 18 turnovers but committed 16.
- San Diego got a game-high 26 points from Braun Hartfield.
PLAY BY PLAY
The Waves led early, but not by more than four points. And their final lead until the very end of the game came at 16-15 with 13 minutes to go in the first half. USD scored the next eight points to make it 23-16, and later on the Toreros scored the final four points of the half to go into the break with a 43-33 lead. USD shot 55.6% from the field in the first half.
Neither team got off to a great start offensively early in the second half, but San Diego was able to take its biggest lead of 12 points at 52-40 with 14 1/2 minutes left after a pair of Hartfield three-pointers.
Led by Ross, the Waves began to chip away. At 57-48, he sank a three-pointer, hit a short jumper and then fed Altman for a dunk to cut the deficit to two at 57-55 with nine minutes left.
The Waves would get the deficit down to one at 60-59 and 63-62, and eventually tied the game at 65 on an Altman three-pointer. The teams traded baskets, but San Diego would go up 69-67 with 2:01 left on a Hartfield lay-up. That would be USD's final points.
Junior guard
Skylar Chavez (Woodacre, Calif./Drake HS/Santa Rosa JC) made a free throw with 1:42 left to make it 69-68, and
Kameron Edwards tied it with a free throw with 33 seconds left. The Toreros missed their final four shots of the game, including a three-point attempt with six seconds left.
Junior guard
Keith Smith (Seattle, Wash./Rainier Beach HS/Oregon) got the defensive rebound and quickly got the ball to Ross, who hurried up the floor and pulled up at the three-point line at the top of the arc. The ball was in the air as time expired and gave Pepperdine the win.
NOTABLES
- On the game-winning three-pointer, Ross raised his career scoring total to 1,621 points and passed Craig Davis (1,619) for sixth place on the Waves' all-time list.
- The Waves swept the regular-season series from San Diego for the second straight year.
- This was the 18th consecutive game that Pepperdine was without at least three injured players. It's also the 23rd time in 26 games they've been without multiple players.
UP NEXT
Pepperdine hosts #2 Gonzaga on Saturday (Feb. 15) at 7 p.m. The game will be televised by ESPN and there will be an audio-only WaveCasts at PepperdineWaves.com. The game is sold out, but the first 500 Pepperdine students with their IDs will be admitted.
