Pepperdine lost an overtime heartbreaker last Saturday night against Saint Mary’s, 69-67.
Brendan Lane, forward for the Waves, finished with team highs in points (19) and rebounds (10), while guard Jeremy Major finished with 14 points and 4 assists. Saint Mary’s out-rebounded Pepperdine 40-31 while also grabbing 19 offensive rebounds as a team.
“The one disappointing thing was our lack of discipline in finishing the play. To give up 19 offensive rebounds, that’s the difference in the game. We did a good job executing, attacking, trying to exploit what we could. But once the shot went up, we had to be more disciplined and block out and go get the ball. To hold them to 35 percent shooting is great, but rebounding was the backbreaker,” said Pepperdine coach Marty Wilson.
Pepperdine played clean basketball in the first half without a single turnover. Defense on both sides were strong early on, which led to a low-scoring first half. Fueled by forward Stacy Davis, the Waves went on a 7-0 run toward the end of the first to make it 24-19. Heading into the locker room up 28-22, Jeremy Major noted the team felt “really confident” going into the second half.
However, the second proved to be a different story for the Waves. Saint Mary’s went on a 13-2 run to start off the half. With the Waves starting to turn the ball over, they found themselves constantly having to play catch up the entire half. It seemed every time Pepperdine pulled close to tie or take the lead, Saint Mary’s would start to pull away a bit. But that didn’t phase the Waves.
“We believe in each other, we stick together and fight,” Major said.
Finally, with 19.2 seconds left in the second half, the Waves were able to tie the game at 59 on a dunk by Lane. Saint Mary’s missed the final shot sending the game to overtime.
In overtime, the Waves had an opportunity to possibly win the game on a three-pointer but with little time left, the team rushed the shot.
The Waves fell to 14-11 overall and 7-6 in the WCC. The Waves goes on the road for their next three games starting off with #24 ranked Gonzaga.