PORTLAND, Oregon – Colbey Ross scored 27 of his 30 points in the second half and the Pepperdine men's basketball team overcame a 13-point second-half deficit and one of its coldest shooting nights of the season to win at Portland, 66-59, on Thursday night in West Coast Conference play.
 
The Waves (15-13, 8-6) missed 15 consecutive shots at one point in the first half and were shooting below 30% for most of the night but outscored the Pilots 17-9 over the final 4 1/2 minutes, handing Portland (9-19, 1-12) its 11th consecutive loss.
 
BIG WAVES

• Junior guard Colbey Ross (Aurora, Colo./Eaglecrest HS) recorded his 12th career double-double but his first point-rebound one as he collected a career-high 14 rebounds to go with his 30 points. He also had five assists and three steals and played all 40 minutes. It was Ross' third 30-point game of the season and the fourth of his career. It was his fourth time scoring 20+ points in the second half of a game this season.
• Sophomore forward Kessler Edwards (Rancho Cucamonga, Calif./Etiwanda HS) was the only other Wave in double-figures with 10 points. He also had four rebounds, two blocks and two steals.
• Senior forward Kameron Edwards (Rancho Cucamonga, Calif./Etiwanda HS) was held to six points but he grabbed 11 rebounds.

KEY STATS 

• The Waves finished shooting 31.6% from the field after going 20.0% (6-for-30) in the first half, but raising that to 44.4% in the second half.
• Portland shot 36.4% overall, and in a near-reverse of Pepperdine, went 42.9% in the first half and 29.6% (8-for-27) in the second.
• The Waves overcame their shooting numbers by making more threes (eight to Portland's five) and free throws (22-for-30 to 14-for-16).
• Pepperdine had a 47-32 rebounding edge thanks to 18 offensive rebounds (seven by Ross), which led to a 12-2 advantage in second-chance points.
• Portland had four players score in double-figures, led by Tahirou Diabate's 12 points.

PLAY BY PLAY
 
The Waves had a 6-4 lead three minutes in, but they'd miss their next 15 field-goal attempts – starting the game 2-for-20 – and Portland was up 20-8 with seven minutes left in the first half. Chavez hit a three-pointer with 6:49 left to end the drought and a 16-2 run by the Pilots. The Waves hit a few shots and free throws to close the gap to five at 26-21 after another Chavez three-pointer, but Portland went into the break with a 31-21 lead.
 
Portland started the second half with a three-pointer, giving the Pilots their largest lead of the game at 13 points. But Ross caught fire, scoring 16 of the Waves' first 18 points in the second half. His three-pointer with 10:51 left, followed by a Kessler Edwards dunk with 10:13 left, made it a one-point game at 42-41.
 
A pair of Ross free throws, followed by a Kameron Edwards basket with 8:40 left, gave Pepperdine its first lead since early in the first half at 47-46.
 
The Waves went back in front at 51-50 on two Kameron Edwards free throws with 4:34 left. After the media timeout, Pepperdine got some breathing room when Kessler Edwards sank back-to-back three-pointers, putting the Waves ahead 57-50 with 2:50 to go.
 
Ross extended Pepperdine's lead to 60-52 on a Ross three-pointer with 1:43 left, and the Waves took a double-digit lead at 62-52 with 48 seconds left after another Ross basket before closing out the game with the seven-point win.
 
NOTABLES 

• Ross raised his career total to 1,674 points, passing Eric White for fourth place on the Waves' all-time scoring list.
• This was the sixth time this season Pepperdine has overcome a double-digit deficit to win.
• This was Pepperdine's sixth road win of the season, the most since 2015-16. The Waves had only three road wins combined the last three seasons.
• Pepperdine has now swept two consecutive regular-season series from Portland for the first time since 2003 and 2004.
• This was the 20th consecutive game that Pepperdine was without at least three injured players. It's also the 25th time in 28 games they've been without multiple players.

UP NEXT
 
Pepperdine continues this road trip at San Francisco on Saturday (Feb. 22) at 3 p.m. It will be televised by NBC Sports Bay Area but fans in Southern California will be able to watch online through the WCC Network. There will be an audio-only WaveCasts with Al Epstein at PepperdineWaves.com.