MALIBU, California – After a rough start, the Pepperdine men's basketball team clamped down defensively to stay perfect at home and defeat UC Irvine, 64-55, on Saturday evening.
 
The Waves (4-1) gave up 21 points in the first 10 minutes and trailed by 15, but turned things around completely and only gave up 34 points to the Anteaters (3-1) over the final 30 minutes. Pepperdine outscored UC Irvine 35-25 in the second half and held UCI to 28.4% shooting for the game.
 
Pepperdine improved to 4-0 in Firestone Fieldhouse for the first time since 2015-16, and has won four of the first five games overall for the first time since 2016-17. They did so by beating a UCI team that was receiving votes in the AP poll after beating then-#21 Oregon on the road a week ago.
 
BIG WAVES

• Sophomore guard Houston Mallette (Alameda, Calif./Pacifica Christian HS) was the only Wave in double-figures and he finished with a game-high 20 points. He made all three of his three-point attempts, extending his streak to 31 consecutive games, one shy of the school record. Mallette also had eight rebounds and went 7-for-8 from the foul line.
• Freshman forward Jevon Porter (Columbia, Mo./Father Tolton Catholic HS) had seven points, nine rebounds, three steals and three blocks.
• Sophomore forward Maxwell Lewis (Las Vegas, Nev./AZ Compass Prep) was limited by foul trouble and scored nine points in 19 minutes.
• Sophomore forward Boubacar Coulibaly (Bamako, Mali/USC) had eight points, six rebounds and three blocks.

PLAY-BY-PLAY
 
UCI got off to a quick start and built leads of 13-2 after six minutes and 21-6 after 10 minutes. The game turned around quickly from there, as senior forward Jan Zidek (Prague, Czech Republic) started a 14-0 run, erasing the 15-point deficit and cutting it to one at 21-20. Pepperdine took its first lead at 25-23 on a runner in the lane by freshman guard Malik Moore (Ventura, Calif./Heritage Christian School), extending the run to 19-2. UC Irvine went into halftime with a 30-29 lead, however.
 
The Waves went up 37-32 after a Porter basket. UCI cut it to one at 39-38 on a three-pointer with 15:48 to go. That would be the Anteaters' last field goal for 10 minutes, as they missed 15 straight attempts. The Waves couldn't fully take advantage, however, outscoring the Anteaters just 11-3 during that stretch.
 
A Coulibaly basket made it 49-42 with 11 1/2 minutes left. Coulibaly later had a three-point play with 8:13 left – which turned out to be the Waves' final field goal of the game – followed by a Porter free throw with 6:19 left, giving Pepperdine its biggest lead of the game at 53-44.
 
UCI's first field goal in 10 minutes made it a five-point game at 53-48 with 3:45 to go. The Waves were sent to the free throw line repeatedly for the remainder of the game, and they went 11-for-16 down the stretch to ice the game as UCI got no closer than seven during that time.
 
KEY STATS

• The Waves held the Anteaters to 28.4% shooting for the night, compared to 38.8% for themselves. The last time Pepperdine held a Division I opponent below 30% shooting was against LMU in February 2015.
• Pepperdine ended up 20-for-29 from the foul line, compared to 12-for-17 by UCI.
• The Waves forced 15 turnovers while committing 12, and had a 12-7 edge in points off turnovers.
• UCI grabbed 19 offensive rebounds en route to a total rebounding advantage of 52-35, and had a 13-1 boost on second-chance points.
• UC Irvine also had only one player in double-figures, Dawson Baker at 12 points.

UP NEXT
 
Pepperdine has a marquee road game coming up, as the Waves will visit #8 UCLA on Wednesday (Nov. 23) at 7:30 p.m. The game will be televised on the Pac-12 Networks and there will be an audio-only WaveCasts with Al Epstein at PepperdineWaves.com.