MALIBU – Plagued by a cold shooting night, the Pepperdine men's basketball team was unable to mount a comeback against Portland, falling to the Pilots 84-64 Saturday night.
 
BIG WAVES

• Dovydas Butka (Panevezys, Lithuania) recorded a double-double with 16 points and 12 rebounds.
• Jaxon Olvera (Houston, Texas/Golden State Prep) added 14 points to go with two rebounds, three assists and a steal.
• Moe Odum (Bronx, N.Y./Pacific) had nine points, one rebound, two assists and two steals.

 
KEY STATS

• Portland outshot the Waves 56% to 39% from the field and 46% to 23% from long range, where UP hit 13 total threes to Pepperdine's five.
• Pepperdine forced more Pilot errors at a rate of 12-8 and scored more from the paint at 38-28.

 
RECAP
Danilo Dozic opened the game on a putback, but Portland immediately went on a 16-0 run that included four three-pointers before Odum drained a three of his own to bring Pepperdine back to life. With his first touch of the game, Olvera delivered a dagger three from the wing as Coulibaly followed with a ferocious dunk over a Pilot defender to cut the lead to six. Portland's three-point barrage caught the Waves off guard and ended the half with 11 treys while Pepperdine only connected on four, leading to a 53-35 halftime deficit for the home team.
 
In the first eight minutes of the second half, the Waves held Portland to six points while the good guys put in 12 points thanks to Dovydas Butka rebounding efforts and Olvera second-chance points that brought the lead down to 11 right before the under-12 media timeout. Both teams traded buckets but the Pilots stiff-armed Pepperdine with their shot selection and the Waves could not overcome their cold shooting night, resulting in an 84-64 final.
 
UP NEXT
The Waves head to Washington State Thursday before inviting LMU to Malibu Saturday evening.
 
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