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.