Shooting Woes Sink Waves Against CSUF

Wednesday, December 6

Malibu, Calif.

7:00 p.m. PT

Pepperdine University

4-7,0-0WCC

Cal State Fullerton

5-4,0-0Big West

Team	1	2	F
Cal St. Fullerton	32	28	60
Pepperdine	20	35	55

Photo by: Morgan Davenport

12/6/2023 9:39:00 PM | Men's Basketball

Box Score Box Score

By: by Athletic Communications

MALIBU – The Pepperdine men's basketball team overcame a 15-point deficit to get back into the game but shooting woes doomed the Waves against Cal State Fullerton, falling 60-55 on Wednesday night.

The Waves (4-7) were assisted by the return of Boubacar Coulibaly, who missed the second half of the 2022-23 season and the beginning of the current year due to injury.

BIG WAVES

Houston Mallette (Alameda, Calif./Pacifica Christian HS) led the team with 16 points- 12 of which came in the second half- and a career-high nine boards, tacking on five assists and a block.
Michael Ajayi (Kent, Wash./Pierce College) put in 13 points, going 2-for-2 from beyond the arc and pulled down six rebounds.
Boubacar Coulibaly (Bamako, Mali/USC) went 4-for-7 from the field, grabbed four boards and blocked three shots in his first game back.
Nils Cooper (Los Angeles, Calif./Crossroads HS) had six points but shined defensively, putting in career-highs of 26 minutes and seven rebounds.

KEY STATS

The Waves again saw a lid on the basket in the first half shooting 29% from the field but righted the ship in the second half with a .538 clip.
Both teams shot poorly from beyond the arc, with Pepperdine putting in 16% and Fullerton 14% total.
Pepperdine out-rebounded the Titans 39-31 and shared the ball more often than CSUF at a rate of 15-7.

RECAP
The Titans opened up the game on six-straight made shots and didn't see a miss until the under-16 media timeout. Moore drained the first field goal for the Waves on a three, but the team underwent a five-minute drought before Coulibaly's return rehydrated Pepperdine. Unfortunately, not much would fall for the Waves for the rest of the period, seeing the good guys shoot 29% from field goal range and a measly 9.1% from beyond the arc. The teams would head into the locker rooms with a score of 32-20 in Fullerton's favor.

Mallette opened up the second half on a jumper and the junior scored 12 of his 16 points in the latter period to help the Waves chip away the Titan lead. Coulibaly added a spark to the Pepperdine demeanor after throwing down a couple dunks and Ajayi found his footing bringing the Waves within one point with just over two minutes to go, but Pepperdine couldn't get a vital shot to fall in the final minute.

UP NEXT
The Waves remain home this weekend to take on UC San Diego on Saturday afternoon set for a 6 p.m. tip.