MALIBU, Calif. – The Pepperdine men's basketball team forced overtime against UC Santa Barbara on Saturday night in Firestone Fieldhouse, but fell 67-64 in the final five minutes of play.

The Waves (5-4) were led by Max Lewis, who scored 17 of his 24 points in the second half and earned a career-high four blocks. Boubacar Coulibaly tied his career highs in points and rebounds with nine each.
 
BIG WAVES

• Sophomore Maxwell Lewis (Las Vegas, Nev./AZ Compass Prep) added eight rebounds in addition to his team-high point effort and career blocked shots.
• Freshman Jevon Porter (Columbia, Missouri/Father Tolton Catholic HS) finished with 10 points and four boards.
• Redshirt sophomore Boubacar Coulibaly (Bamako, Mali/USC) had nine points and rebounds,  tacking on two blocks and a steal. 
• Sophomore Carson Basham (Phoenix, Ariz./AZ Compass Prep) contributed seven points and five rebounds to go along with three blocks. 

PLAY-BY-PLAY
The Gauchos jumped out to an early 8-0 run to start the game, but the Waves fought the uphill battle the entire first half. Two Basham free throws got Pepperdine on the board, and a couple of Waves fastbreaks kept the home team in the game. Senior Jan Zidek (Prague, Czech Republic) hit a fadeaway in the paint and freshman Malik Moore (Ventura, Calif./Heritage Christian School) drained a three with just under 10 minutes left in the period to get the Waves within two. A Basham and-1 gave Pepperdine a 26-25 lead, but UCSB went into the break leading 34-33.  
The second half proved just as tumultuous as the first, as the two teams traded buckets until the Waves went on a 6-0 run with 15 minutes left courtesy of Lewis and Coulibaly jumpers. Of the 24 points Pepperdine scored in the second period, Lewis scored 17 going 3-of-5 from beyond the arc and 6-of-8 from total field goal range. UCSB scored four to go up four with under three minutes left, but Lewis nailed a three and Coulibaly hit a free throw to even the score out at 57 to end regulation.
The Gauchos outscored the Waves 10-7 in overtime, as both UCSB and Pepperdine traded free throws for most of the period. The Waves took a one-point lead twice in the final five minutes, but were thwarted by turnovers and went dry from the field in the final two minutes until Porter dropped in a second-chance bucket under the basket at the buzzer for a 67-64 UCSB final. 
 
KEY STATS

• The Waves outscored the Gauchos 24-23 in the second half and kept UCSB cold from the three-point line at 0-5.
• Pepperdine scored 10 second chance points in comparison to UCSB's five.
• The Waves earned 14 points off the bench, largely from Coulibaly.
• As a team, Pepperdine blocked 10 shots (UCSB - 5).

UP NEXT
Pepperdine will head to Phoenix, Ariz. to take on Grand Canyon next weekend for a 5:00 p.m. PT tip on Saturday, December 17th. The game will be streamed on ESPN+, and veteran play-by-play man Al Epstein will have the call on WaveCasts.