MALIBU, California – Kessler Edwards had 24 points and 11 rebounds and the Pepperdine men's basketball team led #17 BYU at the half, but the Cougars pulled away for an 81-64 victory in the West Coast Conference regular-season finale on Saturday afternoon.
 
Though the Waves (15-15, 8-8) led 35-32 at the break, the Cougars (24-7, 13-3) won their ninth consecutive game, putting a damper on Pepperdine's Senior Day and locking the Waves into the sixth seed at the upcoming WCC Championships.
 
BIG WAVES

• Sophomore forward Kessler Edwards (Rancho Cucamonga, Calif./Etiwanda HS) had his eighth double-double of the season and his second in two games. The 24 points were his most in a WCC game this season and it was the fourth time he reached the 20-point plateau. He tied his career best with five three-pointers and also had four assists and two blocks.
• Junior guard Skylar Chavez (Woodacre, Calif./Drake HS/Santa Rosa JC) was the only other Wave in double-figures with 11 points.
• Junior guard Colbey Ross (Aurora, Colo./Eaglecrest HS) had eight points, seven assists and four rebounds.
• Senior forward Kameron Edwards (Rancho Cucamonga, Calif./Etiwanda HS) finished with nine points and four rebound but battled foul trouble. He was honored as one of the Waves' two seniors before the game.
• Pepperdine's other senior, Robbie Skead (Wyckoff, N.J./Ramapo HS), got into a game for the first time in his career in the final minute. He scored his first career point on a free throw.

KEY STATS 

• BYU outshot the Waves 53.1% to 39.4%, including 64.5% to 37.9% in the second half.
• Both teams made seven three-pointers but the Cougars did it on 14 attempts (50%), while the Waves took 23 (30.4%).
• The Cougars enjoyed a 52-20 edge in points in the paint, largely off of Yoeli Childs, who had 38 points and 14 rebounds.

PLAY BY PLAY
 
Pepperdine went up 7-2 at the start for its biggest lead of the game. BYU came back to go ahead 15-9, its biggest lead of the half. Kessler Edwards had five points in a 6-0 run as the Waves tied it at 15, however. It was close for the remainder of the first half. The Waves went ahead 27-24 on a Kessler Edwards three-pointer with 5:49 left in the half, and maintained a lead the rest of the way before going into the break up three at 35-32.
 
The Waves equaled their biggest lead of the game of five points twice early in the second half, but the Cougars took the lead for good at 46-43 with 14:53 to play on a Connor Harding three-pointer. A 7-0 run gave BYU its first double-digit lead at 61-50 with seven minutes left, and Pepperdine got no closer than eight the rest of the way. It was a 10-point game with a little more than three minutes to go but the Cougars ended the contest on a 10-3 run.
 
NOTABLES 

• Ross raised his career total to 1,702 points, passing Dane Suttle for second place on the Waves' all-time scoring list. He's 84 points away from Stacy Davis' school record of 1,786.
• Ross, Pepperdine's all-time assist leader, passed BYU's Kyle Collinsworth for 10th place on the WCC's all-time assist list. Ross now has 634.
• This was the 22nd consecutive game that Pepperdine was without at least three injured players. It's also the 27th time in 30 games they've been without multiple players.

UP NEXT
 
Pepperdine will be the #6 seed at the upcoming WCC Tournament and will play at 8 p.m. on Friday, March 6, against an opponent to be determined at the Orleans Arena in Las Vegas.