MALIBU, California – A rough night shooting at home saw the Pepperdine men's basketball team fall to San Francisco, 71-45, on Saturday in West Coast Conference action.
The Dons (16-4, 3-2) beat the Waves (6-15, 0-6) in Firestone Fieldhouse for the eighth straight time.
BIG WAVES
- Freshman center Carson Basham (Phoenix, Ariz./AZ Compass Prep) hit double-figures for the first time in his career and finished with season highs of 11 points and eight rebounds in 19 minutes of action. He made four of five shots from the field.
- Freshman guard Mike Mitchell Jr. (San Jose, Calif./Archbishop Mitty HS) was the only other Wave in double-figures. He also had 11 points to go with four rebounds and three assists.
- Freshman guard Houston Mallette (Alameda, Calif./Pacifica Christian HS) had nine points, three rebounds and three assists.
PLAY BY PLAY
The Waves made only shot in nearly seven minutes to begin the game, a Mitchell three-pointer, as USF jumped out to an 11-3 lead. Senior guard
Jade' Smith (Oakland, Calif./St. Joseph Notre Dame HS) scored on a lay-up, but the Dons scored 10 straight to go ahead 21-5 just past the midway point of the first half. USF's biggest lead of the half was 19 points at 26-7. The Waves started to click offensively late in the half, but were down 33-20 at the break.
Hopes of a comeback faded as the Dons scored the first nine points of the second half to go up by 22. Their biggest lead was 32 points at 71-39 before the Waves scored the final six points of the contest.
KEY STATS
- The Waves had season lows for points and shooting (28.3%). The Dons hit on 40.6% of their shot attempts.
- USF doubled up Pepperdine on three-pointers, 10 to five.
- Twenty Pepperdine turnovers helped USF to a 22-8 edge in points off turnovers.
- San Francisco had four players in double-figures, led by Julian Rishwain's 20 points off the bench.
UP NEXT
Pepperdine next visits San Diego on Thursday (Jan. 27) at 7:30 p.m. The game will be streamed online via the WCC Network and there will be an audio-only WaveCasts at PepperdineWaves.com.