MALIBU, Calif. – Michael Ajayi recorded his third double-double of the season but the Pepperdine men's basketball team could not overcome the UNLV lead, falling 82-68 on Friday evening.
The Waves (3-2) were once again led by Ajayi and
Houston Mallette, both with double-figure scoring, but the Rebels (2-1) recorded five players with 10-or-more to balance the effort.
BIG WAVES
- In his third double-double of the season, Michael Ajayi (Kent, Wash./Pierce College) scored a Pepperdine career high of 31 points on 66.7% field goal shooting and a perfect 2-for-2 beyond the arc. The junior also led all players in rebounds, pulling down 12 boards on the night and recorded two steals.
- Houston Mallette (Alameda, Calif./Pacifica Christian) poured in 26 total points, 17 of which came in the second half.
- Graduate student Ethan Anderson (Carson, Calif./USC/Wyoming) delivered six points, four rebounds and six assists.
KEY STATS
- The Waves outrebounded UNLV 34-24, seeing 16 Pepperdine offensive boards compared to the Rebels' five.
- Pepperdine committed 17 turnovers to UNLV's 10.
- After going 1-for-7 from three-point land in the first half, the Waves came back out and shot 40% from beyond the arc. UNLV shot 58.2% from the field and 40% from long range.
- UNLV scored 50 points in the paint, whereas the Waves found only 34 points from inside.
RECAP
The Waves first points of the night came from an Ajayi and-1 but Pepperdine couldn't shut down the Rebels' corner threes in the opening stanza. The Waves went on a short 6-0 run midway through courtesy of Anderson and Ajayi muscling the ball in the paint but turnovers proved costly as UNLV saw 14 points come from Pepperdine errors.
UNLV's Jalen Hill went on a run of his own to open the second half and the Rebels extended their lead to 16 for the Waves' largest deficit of the game. It wasn't until Mallette and Ajayi back-to-back threes later in the half that chipped the lead to six, but Pepperdine couldn't overcome self-induced errors and were thwarted in the end for an 82-68 final score.
UP NEXT
Pepperdine will take a short flight over to Las Vegas for the Ball Dawgs Classic, set to begin Tuesday, November 21 with a matchup against UC Irvine at 5:45 p.m.
