MORAGA, California – Sedrick Altman scored a career-high 22 points but the Pepperdine men's basketball team fell 66-61 at Saint Mary's on Monday afternoon.
 
The closely contested battle between the Waves (10-10, 6-5) and Gaels (12-7, 3-5) featured 16 lead changes and the biggest lead for either side was seven points.
 
BIG WAVES

• Sophomore guard Sedrick Altman (Rialto, Calif./Colony HS) had a previous career best of 15 points set 12 days ago against San Francisco. He shot 9-for-12 from the field and grabbed five rebounds. He's scored in double-figures in five of the last seven games and scored nine points in the other two.
• Junior forward Kessler Edwards (Rancho Cucamonga, Calif./Etiwanda HS) had 16 points and five rebounds.
• Senior guard Colbey Ross (Aurora, Colo./Eaglecrest HS) had 14 points, five assists and four rebounds.
• Sophomore forward Jan Zidek (Prague, Czech Republic) had nine points and five rebounds.

KEY STATS 

• Only four players scored for the Waves: Altman, Edwards, Ross and Zidek.
• Pepperdine outshot Saint Mary's 43.6% to 38.3%.
• But, the Gaels made more three-pointers (seven to four) and free throws (13-for-15 to 9-for-12).
• SMC grabbed 14 offensive rebounds and had a 39-28 rebounding edge.
• Saint Mary's had three players score in double-figures, led by Logan Johnson's 19 points.

PLAY BY PLAY
 
The first half featured eight lead changes. The Gaels' biggest lead of the half was four points at 10-6 and 28-24. The Waves' biggest lead was five points at 20-15 after Edwards had back-to-back baskets as part of a 6-0 run. SMC went into the break with a 28-26 lead despite shooting 29.0% from the field.
 
The second half also had eight lead changes. Altman had six straight points to put Pepperdine ahead 38-34. The Gaels responded with a 10-0 run to go back in front 44-38. Altman had the first five points in a 7-0 run as Pepperdine went back ahead 45-44.
 
Pepperdine's final lead was at 50-48 with seven minutes to play after a pair of Edwards free throws. It was tied at 52 with six minutes left when the Gaels got back-to-back baskets, and they extended the run to 9-2 to take their biggest lead of the game at seven points at 61-54 with 3 1/2 minutes left.
 
The Waves came back with five straight points, three by Ross and two by Zidek, to make it a two-point game again at 61-59 with 1:07 left. The Gaels scored, but so did Altman, making it 63-61 with 33 seconds left. The Waves had to foul, but SMC made both three throws with 21 seconds left to go back up by four. Pepperdine missed on its next shot, and the Gaels hit one more free throw in the closing seconds for the final margin.
 
NOTABLES 

• After beating Saint Mary's at home a little over a week ago, the Waves were hoping to sweep both regular-season games for the first time since 2016.
• Ross now has 796 career assists. When he reaches 800, he'll have the distinction of being one of just four players in Division I history to accumulate 2,000 points, 800 assists and 400 rebounds.
• This was a postponement of a game originally scheduled for January 2.

UP NEXT
 
The regular season comes to an end this weekend. Pepperdine hosts PCH Cup rival Loyola Marymount on Thursday (Feb. 25) at 6 p.m. The game will be streamed online by Stadium and there will be an audio-only WaveCasts with Al Epstein at PepperdineWaves.com.