Pepperdine Game Recap: Waves Fall to Green Bay 97-89

Pepperdine lost its opening round game in the Great Alaskan Shootout to Green Bay by a score of 97-89.

Brendan Lane and Jeremy Major had career nights in a high scoring affair. Lane had 26 points on 12 of 14 shooting, in addition to pulling down a team high 13 rebounds.  Major dished out 12 assist on top of his 19 points.

Stacy Davis did not start due to missing a practice prior to the start of the tournament. Freshman David Jesperson started in his place, and he did a good job. Jesperson scored 8 points and pulled down 12 rebounds in the loss. Davis only scored 7 points and grabbed 2 rebounds.

The Phoenix were led by junior point guard Keifer Sykes and senior center Alec Brown. Sykes scored 23 points and had 6 assists, which both were team highs. Brown scored 21 points and led Green Bay with 8 rebounds.

Stat of the Night

Brendan Lane has recorded a double-double in 4 out of the Waves 6 games this season. In the 2 games he didn’t have a double-double he had double-digit points and 9 rebounds. So close, so close.

Keys to the Game Checklist

The Frontcourts – Neutral

Despite the lack of minutes for Davis, the Waves were in good hands with David Jesperson and Brendan Lane. The two combined for 34 points and 25 rebounds. The Waves as a whole controlled the glass with a +4 rebounding margin (39-35).

On the other side of things, Alec Brown and Grey Mays combined for 39 points and 12 rebounds themselves. The Waves had no answer for these two on the defensive end of the floor.

Major vs. Sykes – Check Minues

Sykes did not have the best shooting night in the world by going 5 of 11 from the field. However Sykes did get to the line 12 times and proceeded to knock down 12 free throws.

The Bottom Line

Pepperdine didn’t have enough in the tank to take down a solid team in Green Bay, but there were some positives such as the play of Brendan Lane and breakout games from freshmen Jeremy Major and David Jesperson.

In the end, Pepperdine made too many mistakes and Green Bay made them pay. The stat sheet shows that:

• Pepperdine got to the line 7 times. Green Bay got the line 35 times.
• Pepperdine had 20 turnovers. Green Bay only had 4.
• The Waves fouled 25 times. The Phoenix only had 11 fouls.

All-in-all, there are some bright spots for Marty Wilson’s Waves, but they also need to sure up some mistakes as well.