Waves Fall to Lobos in Ball Dawgs Classic Finale

Friday, November 24

Henderson, Nev.

3:45 p.m. PT

Pepperdine University

3-5,0-0WCC

New Mexico

5-1,0-0Mountain West

Team	1	2	F
New Mexico	52	38	90
Pepperdine	28	43	71

Photo by: Morgan Davenport

11/24/2023 8:46:00 PM | Men's Basketball

Box Score Box Score

By: by Athletic Communications

HENDERSON, Nevada – The Pepperdine men's basketball team concluded its Thanksgiving break in Nevada with a 90-71 loss to New Mexico on Friday afternoon.

Junior Houston Mallette contributed 13 points for the Waves (3-5) and needs just two more to reach the 1,000-career-point milestone.

BIG WAVES

Malik Moore (Ventura, Calif./Heritage Christian HS) dropped a new career high in scoring with 18 points on 6-of-11 field goal shooting and 4-of-5 from beyond the arc.
Michael Ajayi (Kent, Wash./Pierce College) recorded his fifth overall double-double with 16 points and 13 rebounds to go with three assists and one steal.
Houston Mallette (Alameda, Calif./Pacifica Christian HS) tacked on 13 points, three rebounds, two assists and three steals.
Ethan Anderson (Carson, Calif./USC/Wyoming) gathered the team's second-most rebounds at six while contributing 11 points (all in the second half), five assists and two steals.

KEY STATS

The Waves outshot New Mexico from long range, going for a .391 clip compared to UNM's .357.
New Mexico got to the free-throw line almost three times as much at the Waves with 30 total attempts to 11 from Pepperdine.
56 of the Lobos' 90 points came from the paint. Pepperdine had just 18 come from the same range.

RECAP
The Lobos opened up the game on a 12-0 run until a Mallette step-back three with 16 minutes to play in the first half. New Mexico held the Waves to a 33.3% field goal mark and got to the free throw line more often than Pepperdine to help the Lobos to a 20+ point lead, and went into the locker room with a 52-28 halftime score.

The Waves again saw better shooting from the field in the second half, but the New Mexico bigs were a matchup nightmare inside as they tugged the Pepperdine defense in the paint on before sending the ball back out to the perimeter for a corner three on multiple occasions.The Waves lost steam as the clock wound down, seeing the Lobos reach their biggest lead of the game with five minutes to play.

UP NEXT
The Waves return to Malibu for a Tuesday evening contest against Idaho State on the 28^th before embarking on a quick trip to Boulder, Colo. to take on #18 Colorado on Sunday, December 3^rd.