SAN DIEGO, California – Jan Zidek had one of the top three-point shooting performances in Pepperdine men's basketball history,
Colbey Ross scored 27 points and the Waves toppled San Diego, 90-84, in the West Coast Conference regular-season finale on Saturday afternoon.
Zidek became only the third Wave in program history to make as many as eight three-pointers in a game, and Pepperdine (11-11, 7-6) tied a season high by making 12 overall in the win over the Toreros (3-10, 2-7).
BIG WAVES
- Senior guard Colbey Ross (Aurora, Colo./Eaglecrest HS) scored a team-high 27 points. He went 8-for-12 from the field, made three three-pointers and went 8-for-8 from the line. He also had eight assists.
- Sophomore forward Jan Zidek (Prague, Czech Republic) went 8-for-10 from beyond the arc and scored a career-high 26 points in 25 minutes. Only Damin Lopez (nine threes vs. Boise State on Dec. 21, 1992) has made more in a game for Pepperdine, and before today Terrance Johnson was the only other Wave to make eight (vs. San Diego on Feb. 12, 2004). Zidek shot 9-for-12 overall and grabbed four rebounds. He hit four threes in each half. Zidek's previous career bests were 18 points and four three-pointers.
- Junior forward Kessler Edwards (Rancho Cucamonga, Calif./Etiwanda HS) had 18 points, six rebounds and two blocked shots.
KEY STATS
- The Waves shot 55.6% from the field, their best mark of the season against a Division I team, and their third straight game at 50% or better. San Diego shot 53.0%.
- Pepperdine fared better on three-pointers (12-for-22 to 6-for-24) and free throws (18-for-21 to 8-for-13).
- Seventeen forced turnovers helped the Toreros stay in it, as they had a 26-18 edge in points off turnovers.
- San Diego's Yauhen Massalski came off the bench to score a game-high 30 points.
PLAY BY PLAY
A slow start saw the Waves fall behind 11-5 after five minutes and 15-8 after six minutes. But Zidek got the Waves going, as he hit four three-pointers in the first eight minutes and scored 12 of the Waves' first 14 points. He hit two threes during an 11-0 run that saw Pepperdine go from a 15-8 deficit to a 19-15 lead. It was a two-point game at 27-25 when the Waves went on a 12-0 run, which featured six points by Edwards. A 15-point margin at 41-26 turned out to be the biggest of the game. The Waves led 41-29 at halftime.
Pepperdine couldn't put the game entirely out of reach in the second half, but the Waves didn't let the Toreros get too close either. The lead stayed in the low double-digits or high single-digits for nearly the entirety of the half. The Waves' biggest lead after halftime was 14 points at 75-61 with 6 1/2 minutes left after Ross scored five straight points. Pepperdine was up by 11 in the final minute though USD scored seven straight points to cut the lead to four at 88-84 with 19 seconds left. Pepperdine added two free throws for the final margin.
NOTABLES
- The Waves ended conference play with a winning record for the first time since 2016.
- Pepperdine won in San Diego for the seventh time in the last eight trips.
- Ross has scored at least 22 points in five of the last seven games. This was his 55th career game with 20+ points. The 27 points today were his most in a WCC game this season.
UP NEXT
WCC Tournament brackets and game times will be announced on Sunday morning (Feb. 28). The tournament begins Thursday and runs through the following Tuesday (March 4-9).
