LOS ANGELES — Pepperdine men's basketball (1-1) fell by a score of 74-63 at No. 12 UCLA (2-0) Friday night from Pauley Pavilion.
 
Aaron Clark and Javon Cooley led all scorers with 18 and 17 points, respectively. Clark added six rebounds and four assists while Cooley logged nine rebounds.
 
Styles Phipps added nine points, six rebounds and six assists orchestrating the offense while Danilo Dozic posted eight points.
 
The Waves hit three more triples, knocked down all 13 free throw attempts and were even in the rebounding battle with the Bruins, but shot 34-percent from the field while UCLA put up a 48-percent clip which proved the difference.
 
"I'm very pleased that we played hard and that we were competitive," said head coach Ed Schilling. "We knew that they (UCLA) would bring it, especially after their last contest. This is a big step for us and this program."

The teams traded baskets early as Dozic connected on his first look from three while Phipps knocked down a long two which gave the Waves an early 7-5 lead. 
 
Pepperdine continued to answer UCLA baskets with Cooley and Clark hitting early triples as the Waves started 6-for-12 from the field and held a 15-11 lead. 
 
UCLA then used a 15-0 run to jump out to a double-digit lead as the Waves went scoreless for over five minutes of game time before Cooley scored the next four for Pepperdine from the charity stripe.
 
The Waves kept the deficit within single-digits throughout the first half, holding the Bruins to no field goals for a stretch of over four minutes, but UCLA continued to knock down free throws as the Bruins shot 17 in the first half compared to seven attempts for Pepperdine.
 
The two teams combined to shoot just 20-for-55 from the field in the first half as UCLA eventually took a 37-28 lead into the break. Cooley led all players in the opening 20 minutes with 12 points and five rebounds while Phipps recorded four boards and three assists to go along with two points.
 
The Bruins came out hot in the second half, scoring seven straight to go up 44-28 before a three from Luka Vudragovic stopped the run. Stefan Cicic put in a floater before a Phipps' three put the Waves back down by just a dozen at 48-36 with 15 minutes to play.
 
UCLA continued to answer Pepperdine baskets, with Donovan Dent scoring six of eight for the Bruins which brought the lead up to 62-44 with 8:41 remaining.
 
The Waves' comeback attempt fell short as Dozic and Cooley three-pointers were answered by UCLA buckets as back-to-back layups for the home side brought the lead back to 19 with 6:42 to go.
 
Clark scored 13 points in the second half and put in 11 of the Waves' final 17 points across the final 7:40 of action, as the Bruins saw out the victory in the closing minutes with a final score of 74-63 following a Phipps layup which capped the scoring. 
 
Game Notes

• Aaron Clark recorded a career-high 18 points along with six boards and four dimes.
• Javon Cooley put up a career-high 17 points with nine rebounds.
• Styles Phipps continued to fill the stat sheet, finishing with nine points, six rebounds and six assists.
• Danilo Dozic knocked down a pair of three-pointers and finished with eight points and two rebounds.
• Yonatan Levy drew his second straight start and posted two points, two rebounds and an assist.
• Stefan Cicic added four points and four rebounds off the bench.
• Pasha Shemirani saw his first action with the Waves.
• The Waves were 13-for-13 from the free throw line in the game.
• Pepperdine held the Bruins to 5-for-21 from three-point distance.
• The Waves continued to do work on the offensive glass, tabbing 15 offensive boards compared to 13 for UCLA.
• Pepperdine had 24 bench points with the Bruins having 17.
• The Waves move to 4-22 all-time against the Bruins.

The Waves will return home on Tuesday, playing host to Lincoln at 6 p.m. from Firestone Fieldhouse on ESPN+.
 
ABOUT PEPPERDINE MEN'S BASKETBALL
Pepperdine men's basketball has made 13 NCAA postseason appearances while earning 12 WCC Regular-Season Championships and three WCC Tournament Championships in its history. This success has spanned multiple decades, with the Waves most recently winning the 2021 CBI Tournament. The program has also seen 19 All-Americans along with 19 NBA players, which included a streak of 34 consecutive seasons with at least one alum on an NBA roster from 1976-2011.

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