MALIBU, Calif. – The Pepperdine men's basketball team took advantage of its size and put the clamps down on a three-point-shooting William & Mary offense in a 71-59 home win in Firestone Fieldhouse on Thursday night.
Although the first half was a low-scoring, defense-heavy affair, the Waves (6-8) out-shot the Tribe (5-7) by connecting on 40.9% of their field goals to the visitor's 40.0%. Yet the Waves dominated the glass with 53 rebounds to the Tribe's 22 and scored 13 second-chance points to help the cause.
BIG WAVES
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Boubacar Coulibaly (Bamako, Mali/San Gabriel Academy) had his first career double-double with 13 points and 13 rebounds — both were career highs.
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Michael Ajayi (Kent, Wash./Kentwood HS) finished with 16 points and 12 rebounds. That performance puts him in a four-way tie for first in Division I with eight double-doubles.
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Malik Moore (Ventura, Calif./Heritage Christian School) chipped in 13 points on 6-for-12 shooting with three rebounds.
KEY STATS
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Pepperdine dominated the battle of the boards 53-22, with 30 of those coming in the first half.
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Going into Thursday's game, William & Mary averaged 10.2 made threes per game, which ranked 15th nationally, yet the Waves held them to shooting 6-for-18 (33.3%) from distance.
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William & Mary's Trey Moss and Matteus Case scored 15 points apiece to lead The Tribe.
Both teams got off to a slow start, making one field goal apiece before the first media timeout. With the game tied 4-4, the Waves went on a 5-0 run thanks to two free throws from Nils Cooper (Los Angeles, Calif./Crossroads HS) and a corner three from Moore. The Waves then went on a 7-0 run to take their biggest lead of the night off a Coulibaly putback to go up 17-9.
While the William & Mary offense struggled to score aside from getting to the free throw line, the Pepperdine offense woke up. Ajayi made a layup through contact but couldn't capitalize on the bonus, but an offensive rebound from Coulibaly led to a Moore jumper to complete the four-point play. This sparked an 8-2 run that prompted a William & Mary timeout after the Waves took a 25-14 lead.
From that point forward, the lids were no longer on the baskets. The Tribe made baskets on consecutive possessions to make it a two-possession game, then Pepperdine hit back-to-back threes thanks to Houston Mallette (Alameda, Calif./Pacifica Christian HS) and Ajayi. Moore capped off the 10-0 Pepperdine run with two mid-range jumpers to give Pepperdine a 35-19 lead at halftime.
Unlike the first half, both teams started shooting well in the second half, which featured 26 combined points before the first media timeout. Pepperdine pushed its lead to 14 on three occasions, but Tribe guard Trey Moss came alive, scoring five straight points for the Tribe to make it a 10-point game. Coulibaly's dunk put Pepperdine up by a dozen, then the Waves led by 15 thanks to a jumper from Ajayi.
From that point forward, Pepperdine held William & Mary at arm's length, preventing the Tribe from getting within single digits the rest of the way. Ethan Anderson (Carson, Calif./Fairfax HS) made a layup with 5 minutes and 43 seconds to go to put the Waves up 62-47 for their largest lead of the night. The rest of the half was academic, as Pepperdine countered a late Tribe run with a corner three from Cord Stansberry (Bermuda Dunes, Calif./Shadow Hills HS) to push Pepperdine's advantage to 17 points. Pepperdine's subs held steady down the stretch to seal the 71-59 victory.
UP NEXT: Pepperdine hosts Westcliff in the second half of a doubleheader with the women's team on Friday, Dec. 29 at 6 p.m. Tickets can be purchased at tickets.pepperdinewaves.com.
