MALIBU, California – A sold-out crowd in Firestone Fieldhouse helped the Pepperdine men's basketball team gamely battle #2 Gonzaga for much of the night, but the Bulldogs eventually pulled away for an 89-77 West Coast Conference win on Saturday night.
 
The Waves (14-13, 7-6) were able to tie the contest with 16 minutes to go but the Bulldogs (26-1, 12-0) would go on a 13-2 run at that point and then lead comfortably the rest of the way.
 
BIG WAVES

• Junior guard Colbey Ross (Aurora, Colo./Eaglecrest HS) had his fourth straight game with 20 or more points and his 15th time overall this season. He finished with 23 points as well as six assists.
• Senior forward Kameron Edwards (Rancho Cucamonga, Calif./Etiwanda HS) recorded 22 points, six rebounds and three steals. It was his 11th time scoring 20 or more points this season.
• Sophomore forward Kessler Edwards (Rancho Cucamonga, Calif./Etiwanda HS) had 13 points, eight rebounds, three assists, three blocks and two steals.
• Freshman guard Sedrick Altman (Rialto, Calif./Colony HS) scored 11 points on 4-for-5 shooting.

KEY STATS 

• The Waves were outshot 49.2% to 46.3%. Both teams made 31 field goals.
• The Bulldogs hit more three-pointers (8-for-17 to 5-for-20) and free throws (19-for-27 to 10-for-12).
• Gonzaga had a 39-32 rebounding edge.
• Gonzaga was led Filip Petrusev's 27 points and 12 rebounds. He had 20 of Gonzaga's first 34 points in the first half. Six of the seven Bulldogs who played scored in double-figures.

PLAY BY PLAY
 
The first 10-plus minutes were tightly contested with neither side going up by more than three points. But a 9-0 Gonzaga run, which coincided with Ross' second foul, made it 28-20. The Bulldogs' biggest lead of the half was nine points at 32-23 with 5:45 left. But Kameron Edwards then had the first four points in an 8-0 Pepperdine run to make it 32-31, and an Edwards three-pointer later put Pepperdine ahead 36-35 (which turned out to be its final lead of the game). Gonzaga scored the final five points of the half to go into the break with a 40-36 lead.
 
The Waves scored the first four points of the second half to tie the game at 40, and again at 43 on an Altman three-pointer. But Gonzaga's 13-2 run made it 56-45 with 13 1/2 minutes to play. The Waves would get within eight points on four occasions, but no closer. But, the Bulldogs didn't run away with it either, as their largest lead was only 14 points and that came in the final minute.
 
NOTABLES 

• Ross raised his career scoring total to 1,644 points and is now tied with Geoff Lear for fifth place on the Waves' all-time list.
• This was the second-highest ranked team that Pepperdine has ever hosted in Firestone Fieldhouse. A top-ranked San Francisco team was here in 1977.
• Gonzaga entered the game leading the nation with a +21.7 scoring margin. Pepperdine's two defeats this season to the Zags were by a combined 17 points.
• This was the 19th consecutive game that Pepperdine was without at least three injured players. It's also the 24th time in 27 games they've been without multiple players.

UP NEXT
 
Pepperdine is on the road for both games next week, visiting Portland (Thursday, Feb. 20, 6 p.m.) and San Francisco (Saturday, Feb. 22, 3 p.m.). Both games will be televised locally on Spectrum SportsNet and there will be audio-only WaveCasts with Al Epstein at PepperdineWaves.com.