LAS VEGAS, Nevada – Colbey Ross became the all-time leading scorer in the history of the West Coast Conference Tournament and the Pepperdine men's basketball team outlasted Santa Clara, 78-70, in Saturday night's quarterfinal matchup.
The third-seeded Waves (12-11), which had three players post double-doubles, held off a late rally by the seventh-seeded Broncos (12-8) to move on to Monday's semifinals against BYU.
BIG WAVES
- Senior guard Colbey Ross (Aurora, Colo./Eaglecrest HS) had 25 points and a season-high-tying 12 assists, good for his third double-double of the season and the 15th of his career. Ross went 12-for-12 from the free throw line and added three steals.
- Junior forward Kessler Edwards (Rancho Cucamonga, Calif./Etiwanda HS) had 21 points and 11 rebounds for his fifth double-double of the season and the 17th of his career. He made three three-pointers.
- Sophomore forward Jan Zidek (Prague, Czech Republic) notched the second double-double of his season and career with 13 points and 10 rebounds. He made three three-pointers.
- Junior guard Jade' Smith (Oakland, Calif./St. Joseph Notre Dame HS) scored 11 points before fouling out late.
NOTABLES
- Ross became Pepperdine's all-time leading scorer at the WCC Tournament in the first half (passing Dana Jones), and then became the conference's all-time leader in the second half (passing LMU's Hank Gathers). Ross now has 196 career points at the WCC Tournament.
- Ross also became the Waves' all-time assist leader at the WCC Tournament. He now has 54.
- Ross also moved to sixth on the WCC's all-time scoring list (passing LMU's Anthony Ireland) and second on the conference's all-time assist list (passing SMC's Emmett Naar). Ross now has career totals of 2,183 points and 824 assists.
KEY STATS
- Pepperdine outshot Santa Clara 44.1% to 41.5%.
- One of the best three-point defensive teams in the country, the Waves' defense came through again, holding SCU to 3-for-20 (15.0%). The Waves went 9-for-27 (33.3%).
- Pepperdine also fared better at the free throw line, going 17-for-21 (81.0%) to Santa Clara's 13-for-22 (59.1%).
- Santa Clara was led by Guglielmo Caruso's 16 points.
PLAY BY PLAY
The Waves got off to a nice start, as a Ross three-pointer and a Smith lay-up made it 14-8 Pepperdine after five minutes. But the Broncos came right back with an 11-0 run to take a 19-14 lead. SCU took its biggest lead of seven points at 25-18 with 7 1/2 minutes to go in the half. But after trailing 31-25 with 4 1/2 minutes left, the Waves ended the half on a 15-4 run – with seven points by Zidek – to help Pepperdine take a 40-35 lead at the break.
Edwards scored the first five points of the second half to give the Waves their first double-digit lead at 45-35. The Broncos cut it to four at 45-41, but the Waves pushed it back up to 10 at 52-42 after four straight points by Ross. After a three-point play by junior center
Victor Ohia Obioha (Owerri, Nigeria/Hillcrest HS) and a three-pointer by Zidek, the Waves went up by 17 at 70-53. A Smith basket gave Pepperdine its largest lead of the game, 18 points, at 72-54 with 5:42 to play.
But that would turn out to be Pepperdine's final field goal. Santa Clara scored the next six points, though Ross hit two free throws to make it 74-60 with 3:59 left. The Broncos then ran off 10 straight points to the close the gap to 74-70 with 50 seconds left.
Ross, however, closed out the game by making four free throws in the final minute, while the Broncos missed their final five shots.
UP NEXT
Monday night's semifinal against second-seeded BYU takes place at 9 p.m. at the Orleans Arena. It will be televised by ESPN2 and there will be an audio-only WaveCasts with Al Epstein. This will be Pepperdine and BYU's first-ever meeting at the WCC Tournament.
