SANTA CLARA, Calif. — Pepperdine men's basketball (5-11, 0-3 WCC) was defeated by a score of 82-63 at Santa Clara (12-4, 4-0 WCC) Friday night from Leavey Center in Santa Clara, Calif.

Danilo Dozic and Yonatan Levy led the Waves with 12 points and five rebounds each, with Styles Phipps adding nine points and game-high five assists in the effort.

The Waves trailed by eight with 10:30 to play in the contest, which was followed by a 13-0 run from the Broncos which put the game out of reach late.

"We competed hard and did some good things, especially in the first half," said head coach Ed Schilling. "However, their intense ball pressure caused us to turn the ball over 19 times and that was the key factor in the game."

The Waves got out to a hot start with 10 points in the opening 3:30, as Levy and Pavle Stosic each hit their first looks from downtown. A layup from Javon Cooley made it a 10-5 Pepperdine advantage, which was answered by a pair of threes from the Broncos.

Levy continued his scoring prowess with an and-one conversion to retake the lead for Pepperdine, as the teams went back-and-forth with eight lead changes in total in the first half.

David Mager knocked down his first look from three off the bench which he followed with a layup, tying the game at 24 with 7:22 to go in the first half.

Getting into the bonus, the Waves used a 6-0 run on four free throws from Phipps and two from Dozic to go ahead 32-29, but the Broncos responded with an 11-0 spurt to jump ahead 40-32. Another basket from Mager and a free throw from Stefan Cicic ended the half, as Santa Clara eventually took a 42-35 lead into the break.

Levy had a game-high eight points at the half, as the Waves shot 12-for-27 from the field and 8-for-12 from the charity stripe in the opening 20 minutes.

Pepperdine remained within striking distance throughout the opening stages of the second half, with Dozic knocking down a three after converting a layup, which was followed by two free throws each from Levy and Aaron Clark which made it a 51-47 Santa Clara lead with 12:41 to play.

Santa Clara began to pull away soon after, with the Waves lone field goal from the 14:38 mark to the 6:13 mark coming from a Nikola Radovanovic layup with 10:33 to play. Santa Clara went on a 13-0 run following the Radovanovic basket, pushing the lead to 72-51 with just over six minutes to play.

Cooley nailed a layup and three-pointer for a quick five-point output on consecutive possessions, which was followed by five straight points from Dozic which made it a 78-61 contest with 4:10 to play.

Christian Hammond notched 12 points in the second half for the Broncos to lead the way, with Elijah Mahi adding 10 after the break.

The two teams would combine for just six points in the final four minutes of the game, with the Broncos seeing out the 82-63 victory.

The Waves shot 9-for-27 from the field in the second half, with the Broncos going 16-for-30 despite a 1-for-12 mark from three-point range.

Game Notes

• Danilo Dozic matched a team-high with 12 points to go with five rebounds and two steals.
• Dozic has knocked down a three in five straight efforts and has now knocked down a team-high 24 triples this season.
• Yonatan Levy posted 12 points to go with five rebounds. 
• Styles Phipps logged nine points along with four rebounds and a game-high five assists.
• Phipps knocked down a career-high seven free throws.
• Javon Cooley registered nine points with five rebounds.
• David Mager recorded seven points off the bench with a steal.
• Nikola Radovanovic returned from injury for his first game since Nov. 26, adding two points with an assist.
• Pepperdine shot 16-for-22 (.727) from the free throw line.
• The Waves corralled 10 offensive rebounds, marking the 10th game this season with double-digit offensive boards.
• Pepperdine assisted on 15 of 21 baskets in the game.
• The Waves had a season-high 19 turnovers in the game, compared to 12 from the Broncos.
• Santa Clara posted 17 bench points with the Waves logging 14 points off the bench.

The Waves return with more WCC action on Sunday at Pacific, taking on the Tigers at 4 p.m. on ESPN+ from the Alex G. Spanos Center in Stockton, Calif.

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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