DAYTONA BEACH, Florida – Kessler Edwards scored 22 points,
Colbey Ross tied his career high with 13 assists and the Pepperdine men's basketball team defeated Longwood, 80-66, in Monday's quarterfinals of the College Basketball Invitational.
All five Pepperdine starters scored in double-figures as the Waves (13-12) outscored the Lancers (12-17) by 15 points in the second half to advance to Tuesday's semifinals at the Ocean Center.
With his first basket of the game, Ross surpassed 2,200 career points and became the first and only player in NCAA Division I men's basketball history to accumulate totals of at least 2,200 points, 800 assists and 400 rebounds.
BIG WAVES
- Junior forward Kessler Edwards (Rancho Cucamonga, Calif./Etiwanda HS) led all scorers with his 22 points, his ninth time this season with 20 or more points. He made eight of 13 shots and also had five rebounds.
- Senior guard Colbey Ross (Aurora, Colo./Eaglecrest HS) posted his 16th career double-double with 14 points and 13 assists. He also had 13 assists against Alabama A&M on December 31, 2018.
- Junior guard Jade' Smith (Oakland, Calif./St. Joseph Notre Dame HS) scored 14 points, one off his season high, and he also had six rebounds and two steals.
- Junior center Victor Ohia Obioha (Owerri, Nigeria/Hillcrest HS) posted career highs of 13 points and 11 rebounds for his first career double-double. He also blocked two shots and had two steals.
- Redshirt freshman guard Majok Deng (Tucson, Ariz./Salpointe Catholic HS) made his first career start. He hit double-figures for the first time in his career, scoring 11 points. He made three three-pointers and grabbed five rebounds.
KEY STATS
- After shooting 37.8% in the first half, the Waves were at 66.7% (16-for-24) in the second half and finished at 49.2%. The Lancers shot 44.2%.
- Pepperdine went a near-perfect 15-for-16 (93.8%) from the foul line.
- The Waves had a 40-25 rebounding edge, and 12 offensive rebounds led to a 14-4 advantage in second-chance points.
- Pepperdine forced 14 turnovers while committing 11 and had an 18-10 edge in points off turnovers.
- Longwood was led by Juan Munoz' 21 points and five three-pointers.
PLAY BY PLAY
The Waves got off to a slow start, missing their first six shots and falling behind 8-0 at the first media timeout. But Edwards kickstarted a 14-2 run with the next four points. Ross hit the 2,200-point mark with his first basket of the game, a putback with 12:42 left that tied the contest at 10. The Waves led for about 10 minutes of game time and took a four-point lead on six occasions, last at 27-23 with 3 1/2 minutes to go. But Pepperdine took out some of its starters due to foul trouble, and Longwood went on a 6-0 run to take a 32-29 lead. Ohia Obioha scored in the final seconds to cut the deficit to 32-31 at the break.
Longwood's final lead came at 36-33, as Edwards and Ross both scored four points and Deng hit a three-pointer in a 12-0 run over 3+ minutes that saw Pepperdine pull in front 45-36. Longwood got no closer than five the rest of the way. Pepperdine's first double-digit lead came at 53-42 with 11 minutes left on a jumper by freshman forward
Kendall Munson (Seattle, Wash./Garfield HS). A 7-0 run and an Edwards three-pointer made it 68-54 with less than six minutes left, and a lay-up by Ohia Obioha gave Pepperdine its largest lead of the game of 15 points at 73-58 with under four minutes to go.
NOTABLES
- Pepperdine played without three potential starters in Sedrick Altman, Kene Chukwuka and Jan Zidek, and the Waves had only eight players available.
- Ross passed LMU's Terrell Lowery for fifth place on the WCC's career scoring list. Ross is now at 2,213 points.
- Pepperdine won a CBI game for the first time after suffering first-round losses in 2015 and 2016.
- This was the first-ever meeting between Pepperdine and Longwood.
UP NEXT
The Waves will play the winner of tonight's Army-Bellarmine game on Tuesday (March 23) at 8 p.m. ET/5 p.m. PT. The CBI is being streamed online by FloHoops and there will be an audio-only WaveCasts with Al Epstein at PepperdineWaves.com.
