MALIBU, California – The Pepperdine and Grand Canyon men's basketball teams went back and forth with six lead changes in the final 6 1/2 minutes, but unfortunately for the Waves, the final one was in the Lopes' favor as GCU pulled out a 59-56 win in Firestone Fieldhouse on Saturday.
 
The Waves (2-6) attempted a game-tying three-pointer in the final seconds that was off the mark, allowing the Lopes (5-1) to escape with the win.
 
BIG WAVES

• Graduate transfer forward Keith Fisher III (Los Angeles, Calif./Illinois State) had a team-high 13 points.
• Freshman guard Houston Mallette (Alameda, Calif./Pacifica Christian HS) had 11 points, four rebounds and three assists.
• Senior center Victor Ohia Obioha (Owerri, Nigeria/Hillcrest HS) had season highs of 11 points, eight rebounds and two blocked shots.

PLAY BY PLAY
 
The Waves led 10-7 after an Ohia Obioha three-point play with 13:25 left in the first half. GCU then went on a 13-2 run to take a 20-12 lead. Pepperdine came right back with a 10-2 run, tying the game at 22 on a Mallette jumper with 4:09 left. The Lopes scored the next six to go ahead 28-22, and led 32-30 at the half.
 
Freshman forward Maxwell Lewis (Las Vegas, Nev./AZ Compass Prep) hit a pair of three-pointers to tie the game at 42 with 12 minutes to play. But GCU would go up again by as many as five points. The Waves took their first lead since early in the game at 52-51 with six minutes to go when freshman guard Mike Mitchell Jr. (San Jose, Calif./Archbishop Mitty HS) fed Ohia Obioha for an alley-oop slam dunk.
 
After a GCU basket, Mitchell gave Pepperdine the lead again at 54-53 with 4:06 to play. The Lopes went back up by one at 55-54 with 2:59 left. Mallette put the Waves in front 56-55 with two free throws with 2:16 remaining, but those would be Pepperdine's final points. GCU got baskets late in the shot clock with 1:45 to go ahead, and again with 57 seconds left to go up by three. The Waves were unable to score on their final two possessions.
 
KEY STATS

• GCU shot 40.7% to Pepperdine's 35.1%.
• The Lopes had a 46-30 rebounding edge, with 14 offensive rebounds to the Waves' seven.
• Grand Canyon had a 34-20 advantage with points in the paint.
• GCU was led by Holland Woods' 15 points.

NOTABLE 

• Newcomers scored 37 of the Waves' 56 points.
• This was the first-ever meeting between Pepperdine and Grand Canyon.

UP NEXT
 
Pepperdine is on the road for two games next week, starting with Tuesday's (Nov. 30) contest at Nevada at 7 p.m. The game will be streamed on the Mountain West Network and there will be an audio-only WaveCasts at PepperdineWaves.com.