MALIBU, California – Maxwell Lewis led the way with 22 points and the Pepperdine men's basketball team earned its first West Coast Conference win with a hard-fought victory over Pacific, 70-64, on Saturday evening in Firestone Fieldhouse.
 
Down by two at 58-56 with less than three minutes to go, the Waves (7-18, 1-9) went on a 14-2 run to split this week's two-game series with the Tigers (7-15, 2-6).
 
BIG WAVES

• Freshman forward Maxwell Lewis (Las Vegas, Nev./AZ Compass Prep) had his second straight 20-point outing against the Tigers, and his third of the season. He made eight of 16 shots, three of six three-pointers and all three of his free throws. He also had three rebounds and two steals.
• Freshman guard Houston Mallette (Alameda, Calif./Pacifica Christian HS) scored 14 points, all of them coming in the second half, including the go-ahead basket with 1:54 to play.
• Junior forward Jan Zidek (Prague, Czech Republic) provided 12 points and a team-high seven rebounds.

PLAY BY PLAY
 
The Waves never trailed in the first half. It was 13-8 after eight minutes when freshman guard Mike Mitchell Jr. (San Jose, Calif./Archbishop Mitty HS) sank a three-pointer. The game was tied at 17 when Lewis made three-pointers on consecutive possessions to make it 23-19. The Waves took their biggest lead of the half at six at 27-21 after a Lewis jumper. It was 29-28 at the break.
 
Mallette scored the first five points of the second half to push the Waves' lead back up to six at 34-28, but the Tigers rallied to take their first lead at 41-39 after a pair of three-pointers. There were eight lead changes and five ties in the second half, as the teams traded the advantage back and forth for the bulk of the half. A pair of baskets by Pacific's Pierre Crockrell II gave the Tigers their last lead at 58-56 with 2:52 to play.
 
Zidek made two free throws to tie it, and then Mallette and Lewis hit jumpers the next two times down the floor to put Pepperdine ahead 62-58 with 1:12 to go. After two Pacific free throws, the Waves were sent to the free throw line repeatedly, and went 8-for-8 in the final minute. The Tigers missed repeatedly on offense during this stretch, and the eight straight points for the Waves gave Pepperdine its biggest lead of the night at 70-60 with 19 seconds left. The Tigers scored twice late to make the Waves' final margin of victory six.
 
KEY STATS

• The Waves ended up outshooting the Tigers 44.4% to 41.7%.
• Pepperdine went 17-for-22 at the free throw line (all of the attempts coming in the second half), compared to 10-for-17 by Pacific.
• Three-point defense was key, as the Waves held Pacific to 4-for-24 (16.7%) from beyond the arc.
• The Waves had a 36-32 rebounding edge (and improved to 7-1 this season when outrebounding the opponent).
• Pacific was led by Alphonso Anderson's 17 points.

UP NEXT
 
Pepperdine visits San Francisco on Thursday (Feb. 10) at 8 p.m. The game will be televised locally on Bally Sports West and there will be an audio-only WaveCasts at PepperdineWaves.com.