Skip To Main Content

Pepperdine University Athletics

Kessler Edwards vs. Pacific
Martin A. Folb
Kessler Edwards
68
Pacific PAC 4-2,2-1 WCC
85
Winner Pepperdine PEP 6-6,2-1 WCC
Pacific PAC
4-2,2-1 WCC
68
Final
85
Pepperdine PEP
6-6,2-1 WCC
Winner
Score By Periods
Team 1 2 F
Pacific PAC 20 48 68
Pepperdine PEP 44 41 85

Game Recap: Men's Basketball | | by Athletic Communications

Edwards' Career-High 37 Leads Waves Over Pacific

MALIBU, California – Kessler Edwards poured in a career-high 37 points and scored his milestone 1,000th career point to lead the Pepperdine men's basketball team to an 85-68 win over Pacific in West Coast Conference play on Thursday night.
 
The Waves (6-6, 2-1) jumped on the Tigers (5-2, 2-1) early, going on a 21-2 run near the start of the game and then maintained a sizeable advantage for the entire contest.
 
BIG WAVES
  • Junior forward Kessler Edwards (Rancho Cucamonga, Calif./Etiwanda HS) went 11-for-18 from the floor, knocked down a career-high six three-pointers and went 9-for-9 from the foul line. His previous career high was 30 points against Central Arkansas in December 2019. He also picked up his first double-double of the season with 11 rebounds.
  • Junior guard Darryl Polk Jr. (Long Beach, Calif./Long Beach Poly HS) was the only other Wave in double-figures, as he went 4-for-5 from the field, made two three-pointers, and scored a season-high 11 points.
  • Senior guard Colbey Ross (Aurora, Colo./Eaglecrest HS) was again terrific in leading the offense, collecting a season-high-tying 11 assists. He had 10 assists on Saturday vs. Portland and this is the third time in his career he's had back-to-back double-digit assist games. Ross also scored seven points.
  • Junior guard Jade' Smith (Oakland, Calif./St. Joseph Notre Dame HS) scored nine points and had three assists.
KEY STATS 
  • The Waves won despite being outshot 47.3% to 45.9%.
  • Pepperdine had advantages at the three-point line (making a season-high-tying 12 of 24, to the Tigers' 6-for-21) and at the free throw line (17-for-21 vs. 10-for-16).
  • The Waves had a 40-29 rebounding advantage and parlayed 13 offensive rebounds into a 14-6 edge in second-chance points.
  • Pepperdine had 25 assists on 28 made field goals.
  • Pacific was led by Pierre Crockrell II's 19 points.
PLAY BY PLAY
 
Pacific hit a three-pointer to open the scoring, but that would be the Tigers' only lead. Pepperdine immediately ripped off a 21-2 run over 5 1/2 minutes, with Edwards scoring 10 points as the Waves went up 21-5 with a little more 13 minutes to go in the half. Smith had five points in an 8-0 run to make the score 29-8. Polk Jr. had five points in a 7-0 run as the lead grew to 36-10 with less than four minutes in the half. It was 44-20 at halftime as the Waves limited the Tigers to 30.0% shooting.
 
Pepperdine continued to pour it on in the second half, taking a 30-point lead for the first time at 58-28 on an Edwards three-pointer. The Waves' largest lead was 35 points at 77-42 with 8:44 left after a three-pointer by sophomore forward Jan Zidek (Prague, Czech Republic). Pacific cut the lead in half over the final eight minutes, but the Waves still won comfortably.
 
NOTABLES 
  • Edwards needed 28 points to become Pepperdine's 44th player in program history to score 1,000 career points, and he achieved that in the second half.
  • The Waves won a regular-season game against the Tigers for the first time since February 2017.
UP NEXT
 
Pepperdine plays its next two games against BYU, visiting Provo on Saturday (Jan. 23) at 7 p.m. PT, and hosting the Cougars on Wednesday (Jan. 27) at noon. There will be audio-only WaveCasts with Al Epstein at PepperdineWaves.com for both games. Saturday's game will be on ESPN2.
 
Print Friendly Version