MALIBU, California – Colbey Ross sank two free throws with 2.4 seconds left to break a tie and the Pepperdine men's basketball team survived a Saint Mary's comeback as the Waves prevailed 60-58 on Saturday evening in West Coast Conference play.
 
The Waves (10-8, 6-3) moved into a tie for second place in the WCC, but it was a nail-biter as the Gaels (11-6, 2-4) erased a 13-point deficit in the final five minutes.
 
BIG WAVES

• Junior forward Kessler Edwards (Rancho Cucamonga, Calif./Etiwanda HS) scored a team-high 15 points and had five rebounds.
• Senior guard Colbey Ross (Aurora, Colo./Eaglecrest HS) collected 10 points and 10 assists for his second double-double of the season and the 14th of his career.
• Sophomore forward Jan Zidek (Prague, Czech Republic) earned his first career double-double with 11 points and 11 rebounds.
• Junior guard Jade' Smith (Oakland, Calif./St. Joseph Notre Dame HS) scored 10 of his 13 points in the first half. He also had six rebounds.
• Sophomore guard Sedrick Altman (Rialto, Calif./Colony HS) finished with nine points, two steals and two blocks.

KEY STATS 

• The Waves had their best defensive showing of the season against a Division I team, both in terms of points allowed and field goal percentage (tied) as the Gaels shot 37.5%.
• Pepperdine finished at 39.2%, winning for the first time this year when shooting less than 40% (0-3 previously).
• The Waves, one of the nation's top three-point defensive teams, held SMC to 4-for-24 (16.7%) from beyond the arc.
• Bench points – and the Waves only used seven players – favored Pepperdine, 24-11.
• Saint Mary's got a game-high 17 points from Matthias Tass.

PLAY BY PLAY
 
The Waves got off to a slow start, making only one of their first eight shots as the Gaels led 7-3 at 5 1/2 minutes in. But Pepperdine hit four of its next five, going on a 9-2 run (five by Smith) to take a 14-11 lead. At 21-19, the Waves scored six straight points, finished off by a Smith fast break, to push the lead to 27-19. Edwards hit a three-pointer at the buzzer to make it 33-24 at halftime.
 
Back-to-back dunks by Edwards and Altman off assists by Ross gave Pepperdine its first double-digit lead at 48-37 with 10 minutes to play. A 5-0 run, capped off by an Edwards basket, gave the Waves their largest lead of 14 points at 53-39 with 7 1/2 minutes to go.
 
Edwards scored again with 6:17 left to make it a 13-point game at 55-42, but that was Pepperdine's final field goal of the night.
 
At 57-44, the Gaels went on a 12-0 run to pull within one point at 57-56 with 1:22 left. After Pepperdine turned it over, the Gaels had a chance to take the lead, but Ross stripped Tass of the ball under the basket, and it was last touched by Tass as it went out of bounds.
 
Ross was fouled with 20 seconds left, and he made one of two free throws to make it a two-point game at 58-56. That ended a scoring drought of more than five minutes. SMC's Tommy Kuhse threw in a short jumper with seven seconds remaining to tie the contest.
 
Ross rushed down the court and was fouled taking the ball to the basket. He hit both free throws with 2.4 seconds left to put Pepperdine back in front. Kuhse missed a desperation three-pointer at the buzzer.
 
NOTABLES 

• Ross passed LMU's Forrest McKenzie for eighth place on the WCC's all-time scoring list. Ross now has 2,066 points.
• The Waves are on a season-high three-game winning streak.
• The Waves have now beaten Saint Mary's in two of the last three games in Firestone Fieldhouse, but it was just Pepperdine's second win in the last 11 games overall.
• SMC was playing its first game since January 23 due to a COVID-19 pause.

UP NEXT
 
The Waves visit Santa Clara next Saturday (Feb. 20) at 3 p.m. The game will be streamed online by Stadium and there will be an audio-only WaveCasts with Al Epstein.