MALIBU, California – Colbey Ross scored the milestone 2,000th point of his storied career, but the Pepperdine men's basketball couldn't sustain an early surge and fell to #1 Gonzaga, 97-75, on Saturday evening in West Coast Conference play.
 
The Waves (7-8, 3-3) jumped out to a 16-7 lead just 4 1/2 minutes in, but the Bulldogs (17-0, 8-0) came back with a 21-2 run and maintained a big lead the rest of the way.
 
BIG WAVES

• Senior guard Colbey Ross (Aurora, Colo./Eaglecrest HS) finished with team highs of 16 points and seven assists. His sixth point of the night, a step-back jumper from three throw line with 16 minutes left in the first half, gave him 2,000 for his career.
• Sophomore guard Sedrick Altman (Rialto, Calif./Colony HS) tied a couple of career highs with 14 points and three steals. He also had six rebounds and four assists.
• Junior forward Kessler Edwards (Rancho Cucamonga, Calif./Etiwanda HS) had 11 points and six rebounds.

KEY STATS 

• Gonzaga, the nation's #1 team in field goal percentage coming in at 55.0%, shot 59.7%. The Waves were at 41.3%.
• The Zags had advantages of 52-26 in points in the paint and 22-14 in points off turnovers.
• Gonzaga put six players into double-figures, led by Drew Timme's 19 points.

PLAY BY PLAY
 
The Waves couldn't have drawn up a better start, as they made seven of their first 10 shots. Ross scored six points (including his career 2,000th), Edwards had five and a three-point play by Altman made it 16-7 just 4 1/2 minutes in. But Gonzaga asserted itself at that point, going on a 21-2 run to make 28-18. After starting 7-for-10, the Waves went 1-for-10 during that stretch. The Zags' first-half lead grew to 17 points and it was 49-34 at halftime.
 
Gonzaga led by as many as 32 in the second half, though a 13-2 Pepperdine run late in the game, featuring eight consecutive points by freshman forward Kendall Munson (Seattle, Wash./Garfield HS) helped close the gap a bit.
 
NOTABLES 

• Ross became the first player in program history and the 13th in WCC history to score 2,000 career points.
• Ross is just the eighth men's basketball player in NCAA Division I history to accumulate career totals of 2,000 points, 750 assists and 400 rebounds.
• This was just the second time that Firestone Fieldhouse had ever hosted the nation's #1-ranked team in the AP poll (San Francisco in 1977 was the other).

UP NEXT
 
The Waves host San Diego on Thursday (Feb. 4) at 6 p.m. The game will be shown online via WaveCasts on the WCC Network with Al Epstein on the call. Due to COVID-19 protocols, spectators will not be permitted.