LAS VEGAS, Nevada – Kameron Edwards had game highs of 21 points and 16 rebounds to lead the Pepperdine men's basketball team to an 84-73 victory over Santa Clara in the second round of the West Coast Conference Championships on Friday night.
The sixth-seeded Waves (16-15) beat the Broncos (20-13) for the third time this season after jumping out to a great start and building a 21-point lead in the first half.
BIG WAVES
- Senior forward Kameron Edwards (Rancho Cucamonga, Calif./Etiwanda HS) tied his career high and tied Pepperdine's WCC Tournament record with the 16 rebounds. It was his sixth double-double of the season.
- Junior guard Colbey Ross (Aurora, Colo./Eaglecrest HS) finished with 18 points, eight assists and eight rebounds.
- Junior guard Skylar Chavez (Woodacre, Calif./Drake HS/Santa Rosa JC) scored 15 points and made three three-pointers.
- Freshman guard Sedrick Altman (Rialto, Calif./Colony HS) had 12 points and five rebounds.
- Sophomore forward Kessler Edwards (Rancho Cucamonga, Calif./Etiwanda HS) finished with 11 points.
KEY STATS
- The Waves outshot the Broncos 44.3% to 36.8%.
- Both teams shot a lot of free throws, and the Waves were a little more accurate at 23-for-28 (82.1%) to the Broncos' 26-for-34 (76.5%).
- Pepperdine had a 47-32 rebounding edge for a season-high-tying +15 rebounding margin.
- Santa Clara was led by Josip Vrankic's 18 points.
PLAY BY PLAY
The game couldn't have started any better for the Waves, as Altman scored the contest's first seven points and the Waves went up 9-0. Another 9-0 run that was finished off by a dunk by sophomore center
Victor Ohia Obioha (Owerri, Nigeria/Hillcrest HS) put Pepperdine ahead 18-3 after just six minutes. A Ross three-pointer later made it 23-5, and it became a 20-point game at 28-8 with 10:45 left in the half on a
Kameron Edwards three-pointer.
Six consecutive points gave the Waves their largest first-half lead of 21 at 41-20 with a minute and a half left in the first half. But, the Broncos ended the half on a 6-0 run to cut the deficit to 15 at the break at 41-26.
A marathon second half featured 33 fouls, 45 free throws and five technical fouls. The Waves led by double-digits for nearly the entire time, though the Broncos got the deficit down to nine points at 49-40 with 14:15 left, and again at 54-45 with 11:08 left. But the Waves answered each run and maintained a healthy lead, with the Broncos only closing within eight points in the final minute.
NOTABLES
- Ross scored his 600th point of the season tonight. He's now recorded at least 600 points, 100 rebounds and 100 assists for the second straight season. It's the second straight year that Ross has accomplished this feat. He's the only WCC player to do it even once in the last 20+ years. Doug Christie is the only other Wave ever to go 600-100-100.
- Ross, Pepperdine's all-time assist leader, passed Gonzaga's Blake Stepp for ninth place on the WCC's all-time assist list. Ross now has 642.
- The Waves had a 20-point lead in a game for the fourth time this season.
- This was the 23rd consecutive game that Pepperdine was without at least three injured players. It's also the 28th time in 31 games they've been without multiple players.
UP NEXT
Pepperdine moves on to face third-seeded Saint Mary's in the quarterfinals on Saturday night at 9 p.m. The game will be televised nationally by ESPN2 and there will be an audio-only WaveCasts with Al Epstein at PepperdineWaves.com.
