Men's Basketball

Pepperdine Comes Back to Defeat Loyola Marymout, 91-79

March 4, 2005

Pepperdine - 91
Loyola Marymount - 79

Post Game Quotes

Santa Clara, Calif. - Pepperdine (17-13) turned a 12-point half time deficit into a 12-point victory, 91-79 over Loyola Marymount (11-17) to open the WCC Tournament action. Center Russell Hicks and guard Alex Acker sparked the Waves in their second half comeback. Hicks finished the game with 15 points and seven rebounds, while Acker scored 17.

LMU's Matthew Knight scored 18 points, only four in the second half, while Brandon Worthy led LMU with 22 points. Glen McGowan paced the Waves in scoring with 19 points.

Pepperdine matched LMU's 12-point half time lead at 80-68 with 3:59 left and then built a 17-point advantage in the last three minutes of play. Pepperdine opened the second half with five straight points. Acker and Yakhouba Diawara combined for baskets to move the Waves within 46-41.

An Acker basket and free-throw cut LMU's lead to 52-48 at the 15:09 mark. A dunk by McGowan put Pepperdine within one at 58-57 at the 12:50 mark. An Acker bucket gave Pepperdine a lead at 61-59 with 10:54 left. Hicks free throws built the Waves' lead to 65-60 with 9.25 left.

Pepperdine put together a 31-14 run in the first 10 minutes of the second half. LMU stopped a 6-0 run with a Worthy basket to cut Pepperdine's lead to 67-62 with 7:53 left.

Loyola Marymount jumped out to an early 6-2 first half lead and never trailed during the initial 20 minutes of play. Pepperdine tied the game at 13-13 with 14:16, but LMU proceeded to score the next six points. LMU's Knight scored early buckets for the Lions, while Damian Martin scored consecutive lay-ins in the minutes before the half. Loyola Marymount took a 46-34 lead into intermission.

The Lions went on a 10-5 run over the final three minutes of the half as Martin and Knight helped the Lions to build their first half margin. Knight led the Lions with 14 points at the half, while Martin accounted for 11 points. Peppedine's McGowan totaled 13 first half points and was the lone Wave to break into double-figures. LMU shot 52.9 percent during the half with the Waves shooting 44 percent from the floor.