Fresno State Edges Waves at SoCal Challenge

Monday, November 22

San Juan Capistrano, Calif.

10:00 p.m. PT

Pepperdine University

2-4,0-0WCC

Fresno State

4-0,0-0Mountain West

Team	1	2	F
Pepperdine	27	36	63
Fresno St.	33	37	70

Jan Zidek

Photo by: Morgan Davenport

11/22/2021 11:59:00 PM | Men's Basketball

Box Score Box Score

By: by Athletic Communications

SAN JUAN CAPISTRANO, California – The Pepperdine men's basketball team had its best shooting night of the season at 54.5%, but the Waves fell 70-63 to Fresno State in the SoCal Challenge late Monday night.

Unfortunately for the Waves (2-4), they also had their most turnovers of the season and the Bulldogs (4-0) enjoyed a big advantage at the free throw line.

BIG WAVES

Junior forward Jan Zidek (Prague, Czech Republic) scored a game-high 20 points, the second time in his career he's hit that plateau. He sank four three-pointers.
Freshman guard Mike Mitchell Jr. (San Jose, Calif./Archbishop Mitty HS) had 15 points and five assists.

PLAY BY PLAY

The Waves led in just a couple of instances in the first half. Back-to-back baskets by senior center Victor Ohia Obioha (Owerri, Nigeria/Hillcrest HS) made it 10-9 with 11:45 to go. Mitchell sank a three-pointer and a long jumper to put the Waves up 15-13 with 8:21 left. It was tied at 25 with 3:47 to go after two free throws by Zidek, but the Bulldogs ended the half on an 8-2 run to up 33-27 at the break.

Pepperdine went back in front at 36-35 on a Zidek three-pointer, the first of three he would hit in about a four-minute span. The Waves took their biggest lead of five points on a Zidek lay-up at 47-42, and again at 50-45 with 9:52 left after a three-pointer by graduate transfer forward Keith Fisher III (Los Angeles, Calif./Illinois State). But Fresno State went on a 13-2 run over close to three minutes to take a 58-52 lead with six minutes to play.

A Mitchell basket made it 62-58 with 4:07 left, but both teams went scoreless for the next three-plus minutes, until Fresno State beat the shot clock with a three-pointer with 53 seconds left.

Mitchell scored on a jump shot with 45 seconds to go, then sank a three-pointer with 34 seconds left, cutting the deficit to two at 65-63. After missing their previous five free throw attempts, the Bulldogs iced the win by making their final five in the final 29 seconds.

KEY STATS

For the first time this season, Pepperdine shot better in the second half (58.3%) than it did in the first (50.0%).
Fresno State shot 42.6% for the game.
The Waves committed 20 turnovers to the Bulldogs' 10 and Fresno State had an 11-6 edge in points off turnovers.
The Bulldogs went 25-for-36 from the free throw line, compared to 6-for-9 by the Waves.
Pepperdine shot 60.0% (9-for-15) from beyond the arc.
Fresno State was led by Isaiah Hill's 19 points.

UP NEXT

Pepperdine's final game in the SoCal Challenge is against TCU on Wednesday (Nov. 24) at 7:30 p.m. The game will be televised on the CBS Sports Network and there will be an audio-only WaveCasts at PepperdineWaves.com.