Pepperdine defeats LMU in second round of WCC Tournament, 68-65

The Pepperdine men’s basketball team rallied again from a second-half double-digit deficit, as Colbey Ross hit the go-ahead three-pointer with 30.5 seconds left to give the Pepperdine men’s basketball team a 68-65 victory over rival Loyola Marymount in the second round of the West Coast Conference Championships on Saturday night.

Pepperdine sophomore guard Colbey Ross had 20 points and six assists, and scored the game's final five points.  Ross also made four of his five three-point attempts.  Sophomore guard Jade’ Smith chipped in 16 points, five rebounds, and three assists.

After erasing a 12-point deficit Thursday night against Pacific, the eighth-seeded Waves came back from 11 down this time with 16 1/2 minutes left to upset the fifth-seeded Lions, who were playing their first game of the tournament.

“Loyola is a team that’s well-coached, well-disciplined, a team where you have to make big plays," Pepperdine Coach Lorenzo Romar said.  "Down the stretch, a number of our guys made big plays whether it was big shots, big rebounds, deflections, stops. When you win with a huge team effort, everybody feels so much better about themselves. That’s what happened tonight.”

Both teams got off to a tremendous start shooting, as the Waves made their first six three-point attempts, three of which came in the first two minutes. The Waves were 10-for-19 on three-pointers compared to the Lions’ 4-for-12.

The Lions took their first lead at 25-24 with 9:45 to play in the half. Up by one, a 6-0 Lions run made it 36-29 with 6:45 left, and they went into the break with a 42-35 advantage.

The LMU lead grew to 48-37 less than 3 1/2 minutes into the second half. But the Waves got it down to five at 51-46 after an Ohia Obioha jumper and a Kameron Edwards fast-break lay-up.

At 59-55, Kessler Edwards hit a three-pointer, followed by a Smith driving lay-up, putting Pepperdine in front 60-59 with 6 1/2 minutes left and giving the Waves their first lead since midway through the first half.

The lead bounced back and forth a couple of times the next two minutes. Four consecutive LMU points put the Lions ahead 65-62 with a little more than three minutes left, but the Waves kept the Lions scoreless the rest of the way.  After the Lions shot 57.7% in the first half, the Waves held them to 40.0% in the second.

LMU got 19 points from Mattias Markusson, one of just two Lions to score in double-figures.

Pepperdine next meets San Francisco in Saturday night’s quarterfinals at 7 p.m.

By Staff of TheDailySportsHerald.com and news services