SAN DIEGO, Calif. — Pepperdine men's basketball (5-13, 0-5 WCC) fell by a score of 83-63 at San Diego (7-11, 2-3 WCC) Thursday night from Jenny Craig Pavilion.

The Waves trailed by eight points at the half, with the Toreros opening the second half on a 13-1 run to pull away and lead by twenty. Pepperdine battled back to get it within a dozen, but San Diego's efficient offense proved too much to overcome down the stretch.

Styles Phipps had a game-high 18 points in the effort to go along with seven rebounds and six assists. Phipps also knocked down a career-high 12 free throws on 13 attempts.

Luka Vudragovic provided a spark off the bench for the Waves, scoring 12 points with eight coming on a solo 8-0 run in the second half.

"It was a tough night on the road for us," said head coach Ed Schilling. "We were ice cold shooting and they shot it very well. We made a run midway through the second half and had a chance to cut into their lead, but we couldn't get the key stops that we needed."

Both sides settled in offensively in the early stages, with the score reading 3-2 San Diego through the first 3:30 of game time, as Pavle Stosic opened the scoring for the Waves off a feed from Yonatan Levy.

Phipps began to get to work soon after with the next four for Pepperdine, with a free throw from Nikola Radovanovic putting the Waves ahead 8-7 at the 14:27 mark. The Toreros responded with an 11-0 run as the Waves were held scoreless for a 3:57 stretch with the home side knocking down four of their next five field goal attempts.

The Waves went to work from the free throw line after getting to the rim consistently to put themselves in the bonus, as 12 of their 31 points in the opening half came from the line. Phipps paced the unit with six free throws in the half with Vudragovic and Dozic each going 2-for-2.

San Diego's largest lead was 11 in the half at 33-22, which was answered with a layup from Levy while a three-pointer from Aaron Clark brought it to a 35-29 deficit with 1:38 to go. The Toreros eventually took a 39-31 lead into halftime.

Phipps paced all scorers in the half with 12 points, as the Waves were just 1-for-10 from three-point range at the break while San Diego had converted five of their 12 looks.

The Waves came out cold offensively in the second half, scoring their first field goal at the 13:56 mark, following a 15-2 run from San Diego which pushed the lead to 54-33.

Vudragovic made a cutting layup assisted by Phipps before nailing back-to-back threes for a solo 8-0 spurt, putting the Waves back within striking distance at 61-45.

The Waves continued to battle back, eventually cutting the lead down to a dozen at 65-53 with 7:34 remaining following a pair of Phipps free throws. 

San Diego was able to continue to score on the offensive end to maintain its double-digit lead down the stretch, ending the game on a 14-8 run over the final six minutes which brought the final score to 83-63.

The Toreros shot over 50% for the game at 32-for-59, while knocking down 11 threes compared to five from the Waves.

Game Notes

• Styles Phipps posted a game-high 18 points to go with a team-high seven rebounds and six assists.
• Phipps shot 12-for-13 from the charity stripe, marking a new career-high in free throws made.
• Luka Vudragovic recorded 12 points off the bench of 4-for-5 from the field.
• Vudragovic knocked down a pair of three-pointers, his fourth effort this season with multiple makes from deep.
• Aaron Clark added six points and four assists off the bench.
• Stefan Cicic registered six points while making all three field goal attempts.
• Cicic added two blocks on the defensive end, the first multi-block effort of his career.
• Javon Cooley, Yonatan Levy and Pavle Stosic each drew the start and scored five points.
• Pepperdine assisted on 16 of 19 made field goals in the contest.
• The Waves shot 20-for-29 from the free throw line in the game.
• Pepperdine scored 26 points off the bench, marking a season-best in conference play.

The Waves return home Saturday to take on San Francisco, with the opening tip set for 5 p.m. from Firestone Fieldhouse.

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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