MALIBU, Calif. – Double-doubles from
Jevon Porter and
Mike Mitchell Jr. propelled the Pepperdine men's basketball team to an impressive 92-80 victory over BYU in Firestone Fieldhouse on Thursday night, sending the Cougars away with a loss in their last regular-season conference match-up against the Waves.
Porter served up a 30-piece and pulled down 10 boards, now having accrued seven double-doubles in his debut season– the only freshman in the conference to achieve a single such output– as well as three-straight. Mitchell Jr. poured in 13 points and dished out 11 assists for his first double-double of the season. His 11 assists marked the second time this season that the sophomore finished with double-digit dishes.
Houston Mallette earned hustle points, collecting a team-high three steals while diving for loose balls and filling the Cougars' passing lanes and contributing 22 points.
BIG WAVES
- Freshman Jevon Porter (Columbia, Mo./Father Tolton Catholic) snatched up two steals while shooting 71.4% from the field and 60% from beyond the arc to finish with his 30 & 10 night.
- Sophomore Houston Mallette (Alameda, Calif./Pacifica Christian HS) shot 56.2% from field goal range on his 22-point output.
- Sophomore Mike Mitchell Jr. (San Jose, Calif./Arch Bishop Mitty) contributed 13 points, including several crunch-time jumpers, but shone as a true point guard in delivering the ball to his teammates (11 assists).
- Senior Jan Zidek (Prague, Czech Republic) put in 14 points on the night and brought down five rebounds against the BYU bigs.
PLAY-BY-PLAY
Both teams traded buckets throughout the opening 10 minutes, but Porter spurred a 10-0 Waves run with five minutes to go in the half. The freshman sank two free-throws, a jumper and back-to-back layups in the 10-0 span, draining his 19 first-half points as Mallette added a layup in between.
After a Carson Basham layup to open the second period, Mallette went on a run of his own, pushing the Waves to a 49-40 lead in the opening two minutes. BYU wouldn't make it easy, however, lighting it up from three-point range and pounding the ball inside to get back within a single point, but Pepperdine took off on a short 6-0 sprint midway through and never looked back. A Zidek three would keep the Waves alive during consecutive Cougar runs, and Mallette hustle plays spurred on Pepperdine late in the half. Porter again went on a run of his own at the two-minute warning, draining a three, dropping in a layup and making a free-throw to stretch the lead to 87-78.
With under a minute left to play, it was hack-a-Jan time for BYU, who sent Zidek to the line to ice the game. It was only fitting that an emphatic Porter putback dunk was the last bucket of the contest for the Waves, as the clock ran out on the Cougars and Pepperdine earned the 92-80 win.
KEY STATS
- The Waves outshot the Cougs 56.9% to 48.3%, and held BYU to just 21.1% from beyond the arc compared to Pepperdine's 45.8%.
- Pepperdine won the battle of the boards, out-rebounding the Cougars 32-28.
- Largely by the hands of Mitchell Jr., the Waves shared the ball by an outrageous margin, going for 22 assists to BYU's 9.
- Pepperdine held the lead for almost 27 minutes of game play.
- The Pepperdine women's basketball team also defeated BYU tonight in Provo, marking the first time both teams beat BYU in the same year.
UP NEXT
The Waves head to The Bay to take on San Francisco on Saturday afternoon. The WCC Network will stream the game, and veteran play-by-play man Al Epstein will have the call on WaveCasts.
