Both men’s and women’s teams finish first in the West Coast Conference, with the lady Waves taking the WCC title, and both advance to the NCAA.
Rounding out an astonishing season, both Pepperdine University’s women’s and men’s basketball teams are marching on to NCAA tournament madness.
Each team won more than 20 games. The women’s teams finished first in the West Coast Conference (WCC) standings, with an impressive 23-7 record. The men came in at 22-8, and tied with Gonzaga for first place. Both teams advanced to the final game of the WCC Tournament last weekend hosted by the University of San Diego Dons at the brand-new Jenny Craig Pavilion.
The lady Waves claimed the WCC title, and an automatic berth in the NCAA tournament, otherwise known as March Madness, beginning today, with a win over Santa Clara on Sunday afternoon. Their first round will be against Villanova Wildcats.
The title game filled spectators with nervous anticipation, as the lady Waves were up by as many as 7 late in the game and Santa Clara closed the gap to 75-72 with just 0:12 left to play. But Pepperdine went 8-10 from the foul line down the stretch to secure the 81-77 victory. Center Nadja Morgan was the high scorer for the Waves with 20 points. Plagued with injuries for most of the season, a month ago the lady Waves only had seven players on their roster who were healthy enough to play.
The Pepperdine men’s team faced a formidable challenge when they took on No. 6-ranked Gonzaga in the other half of the WCC championship. The Bulldogs are ranked ahead of Pepperdine’s local rivals, USC and UCLA. Incidentally, the Waves pulled off upsets over the Trojans and the Bruins earlier this season. Pepperdine beat Gonzaga at home in the Firestone Fieldhouse in January, but the Bulldogs got their revenge when the Waves traveled north to Washington two weeks later. The championship game was the rubber match between the two conference foes.
Pepperdine will go against Wake Forrest Demon Deacons in the first round and Gonzaga will play the Wyoming Cowboys.
In the title game, Pepperdine was up by one at the half in front of almost 5,000 fans at the Jenny Craig Pavilion but was unable to secure a victory, mostly due to the hot hand of All-American Gonzaga guard Dan Dickau. The fifth-year senior had 27 of his 29 points in the second half. Devin Montgomery, who usually occupies more of a set-up role, made a strong offensive contribution for the Waves, with a career-high 27 points, and shared the responsibility on defense of containing Dickau with teammate Gary Colbert.
“We’ve got a lot of versatile players,” said head coach Paul Westphal. “That’s the strength of this team. If it’s not your turn one night, it might be the next.”
The Bulldogs went on a 21-6 scoring run that lasted just over three minutes, which left the Waves spinning, and down by 15 with only four minutes left in the game.
A last-ditch effort by Montgomery and guard Craig Lewis pulled the Waves within four, to put the score at 94-90.
“We’re trying to get in the (NCAA) tournament, so we know we have to play hard every game we play,” said Montgomery.
But the sands of time slipped through the hourglass a little too fast for the Waves, as there was only 0:04 left on the clock when the Waves pulled within four. Gonzaga made two free throws at the end, and the Waves lost by a count of 96-90.
The team had trouble reaching the tournament final, as they almost dropped their first contest to the lowly University of Portland Pilots.
“We turned the ball over a lot tonight and I’m glad to advance,” said Westphal. “I thought Portland played really well. [Casey] Frandsen is an all-conference player.”
The Waves pulled away from Portland 77-64 on Saturday afternoon, then thumped St. Mary’s 68-47 on Saturday evening to advance to the final game against Gonzaga Sunday night.