SAN FRANCISCO, California – Colbey Ross willed the Pepperdine men's basketball team to a huge second half and a rare win at San Francisco, as the Waves battled their way to a 76-68 road victory against the Dons in West Coast Conference play on Wednesday afternoon.
After scoring just 25 points in the first half and falling behind by 10 at the break, the Waves (9-8, 5-3) scored 51 second-half points to topple USF (10-9, 4-5). The win moves the Waves into third place in the WCC.
BIG WAVES
- Senior guard Colbey Ross (Aurora, Colo./Eaglecrest HS) scored 16 of his game-high 22 points in the second half. It was his eighth 20-point game of the season and the 52nd of his career. Ross shot 9-for-14 and also had six assists. Ross battled foul trouble, picking up three in the first half and his fourth with 6:49 left.
- Sophomore guard Sedrick Altman (Rialto, Calif./Colony HS) scored a career-high 15 points on 7-for-10 shooting. It was his fourth straight game in double-figures.
- Sophomore forward Jan Zidek (Prague, Czech Republic) contributed 14 points off the bench, two shy of his career high. He made six of nine shots and sank a pair of three-pointers.
- Junior forward Kessler Edwards (Rancho Cucamonga, Calif./Etiwanda HS) recorded his second straight double-double and his fourth in the last six games with 13 points and 11 rebounds.
- Junior guard Jade' Smith (Oakland, Calif./St. Joseph Notre Dame HS) had six points, nine rebounds, five assists and two steals.
KEY STATS
- The Waves had their best shooting performance of the season against a Division I team, finishing at 52.5%, with a 65.6% rate in the second half. They improved to 6-0 this season when shooting 50% or better.
- USF shot 39.7% for the game.
- Pepperdine hit on 50% (7-for-14) of its three-point shots. The Dons went 8-for-29 (27.6%).
- San Francisco was led by Khalil Shabazz's 20 points.
PLAY BY PLAY
The Waves got off to a very slow start and fell behind 12-4 eight minutes in. But things eventually got going, as Zidek hit a pair of three-pointers and grad transfer forward
Kene Chukwuka (Stockholm, Sweden/Pitt) scored down low to the tie the game at 14 with under eight to play in the half. However, at 19-18 USF, the Dons hit two straight threes, and went on a 16-4 run to pull ahead by 13, their biggest of the game, at 35-22. An Edwards three-pointer was the final basket of the second half, making it 35-25.
Ross scored six points in an 8-0 run early in the second half, and a Zidek lay-up later made it a one-point game at 43-42 with 12 minutes left. The Waves eventually tied it at 53 with 8:55 left on an Edwards three-pointer. Zidek gave Pepperdine its first lead since 2-0 on a short jump hook with four minutes left, making it 61-59.
That was part of a 15-2 run that saw the Waves go in front 70-61 with 1:19 to play. Ross scored six points in the decisive stretch, while Edwards ended the run with a three-pointer off a Ross assist. The Dons closed the gap to four points in the final minute before the Waves scored the game's final four points. The final second-half tally was 51-33 in the Waves' favor.
NOTABLES
- The Waves won at San Francisco for just the second time in their last 12 trips, and beat USF in the regular season for the first time in nine games.
- Ross passed San Diego's Johnny Dee on the WCC's all-time scoring list and moved up to ninth place with 2,056 points. Next on the list is LMU's Forrest McKenzie at 2,060.
- The Waves had their highest-scoring second half of the season.
- Pepperdine's 13-point deficit was the largest overcome in a win this season.
UP NEXT
The Waves host Saint Mary's on Saturday (Feb. 13) at 5 p.m. It will be televised nationally on the CBS Sports Network and there will be an audio-only WaveCasts with Al Epstein at PepperdineWaves.com.
