SAN DIEGO – A 17-0 run with six minutes to go propelled the Pepperdine men's basketball team into an 83-77 win over San Diego in the Jenny Craig Pavilion on Saturday evening in a contest where the Waves clawed their way out of a 15-point first half deficit.
The Waves (9-10, 2-2 WCC) snapped their streak of 29-straight road losses, as the last time Pepperdine delivered a road win was- poetically- at San Diego in February of 2021. San Diego falls to 10-9 overall and 0-4 in conference play.
BIG WAVES
- Earning his 10th double-double of the season, Michael Ajayi (Kent, Wash./Pierce College) put together a 24-point, 12-rebound performance, including four clutch free throws with under a minute to play.
- Houston Mallette (Alameda, Calif./Pacifica Christian HS) flexed his basketball I.Q. by taking the ball to the rack late in the game after shots simply weren't falling for the Waves early on. The sophomore finished with 23 points on 6-of-15 field goal and 50% three-point shooting and dished out five assists.
- Boubacar Coulibaly (Bamako, Mali/USC) contributed a career high in scoring, going for 17 and 7-of-9 from the field and collected three steals and four rebounds.
- Jevon Porter (Columbia, Mo./Father Tolton Catholic) had nine boards and seven points while also gathering three steals- including the game-icing snatch.
- While his stats didn't show up on a sheet, Ethan Anderson (Carson, Calif./USC/Wyoming) contributed a huge defensive effort, diving for loose balls and hustling after Toreros players especially when it counted most.
KEY STATS
- Pepperdine's 17-0 stretch late in the second half evolved into a 21-6 run over the final minutes of the game.
- The Waves forced 15 Torero turnovers in contrast to Pepperdine's nine, but both teams finished even in the points off turnovers category at 15-each.
- Pepperdine won the rebounding battle as well, going 34-28.
- In the first half, the Waves shot a measly .355 clip from the field but corrected themselves for a .519 mark in the second.
RECAP
San Diego scored the first four points of the game but Coulibaly broke up its short run with an inside jumper and Mallette would follow with a fastbreak three courtesy of Anderson. The Toreros would contribute four straight field goals before another Mallette three but the Waves would go dry for the next two minutes, allowing USD to go up 10 midway through the first stanza. Back-to-back threes from
Cord Stansberry and Ajayi brought Pepperdine within nine but the Toreros would stiff-arm the Waves for the rest of the half, leading to a 48-35 halftime deficit that saw USD shoot 67.7% from the field.
The Waves opened the second half driving to the basket to earn free throws, which gave them the first eight points of the period and brought Pepperdine within five points. USD did not score until under the 17-minute mark which came from a PJ Hayes three— a section of the score sheet in which he did not miss (3-of-3). Pepperdine kicked off a 17-0 run as Ajayi hit a turnaround jumper and Anderson earned defensive stops and an Anderson layup brought them back within five with just over five minutes to play.
A Porter fastbreak and-one got the bench off their feet and pulled the Waves within two while a Mallette jumper tied the game at 71-all with four to play. Mallette followed that up with a dagger three to send the good guys into the lead for their first advantage of the game. Still riding the 17-point run, Pepperdine held USD scoreless for six-and-a-half minutes as the Toreros played hack-a-Wave which sent Ajayi to the line to stave them off. With six seconds to go, Porter snatched a steal and let the clock run, giving the Waves the 83-77 win in San Diego.
UP NEXT
Pepperdine returns to Malibu next week to take on Gonzaga on Thursday night before a Saturday showdown against PCH Cup rival LMU in Firestone.
