Waves Ousted by Saint Mary's in WCC Semifinals

LAS VEGAS -- An unstoppable first-half performance by Saint Mary's led to the end of the Pepperdine men's basketball team's stay in the West Coast Conference Tournament, as the Waves fell 81-66 in Monday's semifinals at the Orleans Arena.

The top-seeded Gaels (27-4) shot 67% in the first half and broke out to a 44-24 lead at halftime. After falling behind by as many as 24 points in the second half, the fourth-seeded Waves rallied to within 10 points late but could get no closer.

Pepperdine (18-13) will wait for Sunday (March 13) to learn its postseason fate.

"You've got to give Saint Mary's credit, they did a heck of a job," Pepperdine Coach Marty Wilson said. "They did a great job in the first half adjusting to how we had been guarding them previously. We didn't have the mindset in the first half that we needed. We talked about it at halftime and put two words on the chalkboard, `quit' or `fight.' Our guys wanted to fight and proved that in the second half. We were down 24 and cut it to 10. But then we made a couple of mistakes that took the wind out of our sails.

"I'm proud of our guys for that they've done throughout the year, and we know that this isn't the last
game we're going to play."

Junior guard Lamond Murray Jr. (Los Angeles, Calif./Bishop Montgomery HS) scored a game-high 20 points, followed by junior guards Jeremy Major (Pasadena, Calif./Maranatha HS) and Amadi Udenyi (Oakland, Calif./De La Salle HS) with 13 points apiece.

The Waves were responsible for two of the Gaels' four regular-season losses but couldn't pull off the three-game sweep. Pepperdine shot 35.7% in the first half, 54.8% in the second, and 45.8% for the game. SMC finished at 57.4% shooting for the contest and had a big edge with points in the paint at 46 to 28.

The Gaels, who never trailed, made 12 of 13 two-point shots in the first half, as well as six of 14 three-pointers. The lead grew to 53-29 with 15:18 to play in the game.

The Waves kept battling, however. A 9-0 Pepperdine run made the score 60-47 with eight minutes left. Back-to-back baskets by Murray and Major reduced it to a 10-point deficit at 64-54 with 5:28 to go. The Waves had three shots to make it a single-digit game but missed all three, and the Gaels finally responded with the next eight points to put the game out of reach.

Murray scored 15 of his points in the second half, and Major had 11 of his.

Four Gaels scored in double-figures, led by Joe Rahon's 18.

Pepperdine was making its first back-to-back WCC semifinal appearances since 2001 and 2002, and was trying to get back to the championship game for the first time since 2002.