SAN DIEGO, California – Maxwell Lewis nearly willed the Pepperdine men's basketball team to a second-half comeback win at San Diego on Thursday night, but the Toreros ended up holding off the Waves, 64-56, in West Coast Conference play.
 
The Toreros improved to 12-9 overall and 5-3 in the WCC, while the Waves fell to 6-16, 0-7.
 
BIG WAVES

• Freshman forward Maxwell Lewis (Las Vegas, Nev./AZ Compass Prep) scored all of his game-high 18 points in the second half, including 15 in the final 8 1/2 minutes, eight of which came at the free throw line. He also had a team-high eight rebounds.
• Senior center Victor Ohia Obioha (Owerri, Nigeria/Hillcrest HS) contributed 10 points and seven rebounds.

PLAY BY PLAY
 
Pepperdine jumped out to a 5-2 lead, but then missed 12 straight field goal attempts as San Diego pulled ahead 11-5. The Toreros held onto the lead throughout the rest of the half, taking a 10-point lead at 32-22 and going into the break at 34-24. Ten points would end up being the largest lead of the game for USD.
 
The Toreros would lead 42-34 with 12 1/2 minutes left, but the Waves held them scoreless for the next 4 1/2 minutes. Freshman center Carson Basham (Phoenix, Ariz./AZ Compass Prep) scored, followed by three-pointers by freshman guard Houston Mallette (Alameda, Calif./Pacifica Christian HS) and Lewis, tying the game at 42 with 8:27 left. USD scored the next five points, however, and didn't trail again. The Waves didn't go away either, as Lewis made it a one-point game at 47-46, 49-48 and 51-50, the last on two free throws with 5:21 left.
 
Lewis scored 15 consecutive points for Pepperdine down the stretch to keep the Waves close. But USD had a 9-2 run late to go ahead 60-52 with a little more than two minutes remaining, and held on from there for the eight-point win.
 
KEY STATS 

• The Waves were outshot 39.7% to 32.8%.
• Pepperdine made seven three-pointers and held San Diego to two.
• USD had a 45-33 rebounding edge, including 17 to 13 in offensive rebounds, and an 18-2 advantage in second-chance points.
• San Diego was led by Terrell Brown's 13 points, 11 rebounds and five blocked shots.

NOTABLE 

• The Waves were without their leading scorer, Jan Zidek, for the first time this season. Kendall Munson made his first career start in his place.
• Pepperdine's quartet of freshmen scored 66% of the points tonight (37 of 56).

UP NEXT
 
Pepperdine next visits Saint Mary's on Saturday (Jan. 29) at 5 p.m. The game will be televised by CBS Sports Network and there will be an audio-only WaveCasts at PepperdineWaves.com.