Second half rally leads Pepperdine past Portland

Jan 16, 2014; Malibu, CA, USA; Pepperdine Waves guard

(15) drives past Gonzaga Bulldogs guard

(3) in the second half at Firestone Fieldhouse. Gonzaga defeated Pepperdine 70-53. Mandatory Credit: Andrew Fielding-USA TODAY Sports

The Pepperdine Waves got a key home victory against the Portland Pilots, 76-65.Lamond Murray, Jr. led Pepperdine with 16 points off the bench, whileStacy Davisadded Pepperdine with 14 points and 8 rebounds.Malcolm Brooksscored 13 points andJeremy Majorhit key free throws down the stretch and finished with 11 points.Amadi Udenyiled the Waves with 5 assists.

Kevin Baileyled Portland with 27 points, whileRyan Nicholasfollowed with 14 points and 7 rebounds.Alec Winteringwas held scoreless but did contribute 6 assists for the Pilots.

Portland led 34-30 at half behind 15 first half points from Kevin Bailey, but Stacy Davis scored 8 points in the first 6 minutes in the second half to give Pepperdine the lead. Then 5 points fromNikolas Skouenin the span of 1:13 gave Pepperdine a double digit lead, and the game was never in serious doubt from that point on.

KEYS TO THE GAME REVISITED

Pepperdine

X– Lane and Davis must match Portland’s frontcourt efficiency:Brendan Lanehad his worst offensive game in a Waves uniform, scoring just 2 points on 1/4 shooting. While Stacy Davis had a fairly solid game, the Pepperdine big men did not match the production of the Portland big men. However, that was not necessary because Pepperdine got good production from Murray, Brooks and Major.

Portland

✓– Guards must take care of the ball: While Alec Wintering andBryce Pressleylimited their turnovers (just one apiece), they did not score enough to keep their team in the game. Nonetheless, Wintering did have 6 assists and kept his composure fairly well for a freshman point guard who was not hitting his shots. It would have been easy to get frustrated, but Wintering did not.

KEY MATCHUP

Stacy Davis vs. Ryan Nicholas: Way too close to call. Both players had 14 points on 10 shot attempts, Nicholas had 7 rebounds and 2 assists, and Davis had 8 rebounds and 3 assists. Because Pepperdine won the game, I will give the victory in this matchup to Davis.

MOVING FORWARD

Pepperdine is back on track in the WCC after a solid home victory. They will need Brendan Lane to step up though when they travel to Saint Mary’s for Thursday night’s game, where Lane will have to containBrad Waldow.

Portland suffered a minor setback after two solid wins against Gonzaga and LMU. The Pilots will look to rebound on Thursday night when they return home to host the BYU Cougars.

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