By Jeff Faraudo
#WCChoops columnist | ARCHIVES
 
BYU had to play until nearly 11:30 p.m. Monday night, through an overtime period before finally dispatching Pepperdine 82-77 in the semifinals of the University Credit Union West Coast Conference Tournament.
 
But the Cougars got what they wanted: Another shot at top-ranked and unbeaten Gonzaga in Tuesday’s championship game at the Orleans Arena in Las Vegas.
 
“It means everything to us, really,” said senior guard Alex Barcello, who scored eight of his game-high 23 points in overtime and also grabbed nine rebounds. “Things are coming true and we’ve still got games ahead of us, things that we still want to accomplish. 
 
“This team is so great at laying everything we have out there on the floor and I think that’s exactly what we’re going to do (Tuesday) night.”
 
“What an epic semifinal, right?” said Cougars coach Mark Pope. “You just love it. Postseason is just a beautiful thing.”
 
It will become a more beautiful for the Cougars (20-5) if they can figure out a path to upsetting the Zags (25-0), who will be going after their 17th WCC Tournament crown under coach Mark Few. The Cougars are pursuing their first since joining the conference a decade ago.
 
Pope, who never seems short of energy, called Gonzaga “a generational team.”
 
“I don’t know when or if I’ve seen a team with five guys on the floor who are so skilled and can pass and make plays for each other like that can,” said Pope, whose team lost to Gonzaga by 17 points in Spokane and 11 at Provo. “We’ve got to find a way to step up and raise our level of play to match them. They deserve a great game, and we’re hungry to play a great game. We think we have more in the tank.”
 
BYU trailed for all but 12 seconds of the game — and by as many as 12 points — until Barcello converted a slick baseline drive with a reverse layup for a 71-70 lead with 16.8 seconds left in regulation.
 
Matt Haarms blocked Sedrick Altman’s shot and Spencer Johnson pushed the lead to 72-70 when he made the second of two free throws with 5.6 seconds left.
 
Pepperdine senior guard Colbey Ross, who struggled through a difficult shooting night, went past Johnson, pulled up at the top of the key and swished a shot that tied the score just before the horn sounded.
 
Barcello went to work in overtime, but the Cougars’ lead was just 78-76 when Johnson made the defensive play of the night. He reached out to deflect a pass intended for Pepperdine’s Kessler Edwards then somehow saved it from going out of bounds with a pass back to teammate Connor Harding.
 
“I just saw that Spencer was worried about the right things,” Barcello said. "He had one thought in his mind and that was winning. That play won us the game, I think.”
 
Ross countered with a single free throw for the Waves and Barcello iced the win by making a pair with 7.7 seconds left. 
 
NO HAPPY ENDING FOR ROSS: After Pepperdine’s quarterfinal victory over Santa Clara on Saturday night, Ross said what his college career needed was a championship. The Waves (12-12) haven’t won the WCC title since 1994, and Ross was crushed he couldn’t make it happen.
 
“It’s a tough feeling right now in that this is my last chance to play in the WCC Tournament, my last chance to make the NCAA Tournament,” he said. “I’m pretty sad, honestly. I wanted to do it for Coach Ro, my teammates, Pepperdine . . . that was my biggest goal. It’s just hard.”
 
Ross finished his career with 2,199 points and 826 assists, both program records. He is the WCC’s No. 6 all-time scorer, and No. 2 on the league’s career assist chart.
 
But he shot just 7 for 24 against BYU, including 1 for 9 from beyond the 3-point arc. And he had seven turnovers against just two assists. 
 
“Tough night,” Ross said. “The shots weren’t falling. Didn’t get the best looks. You’ve got to live with it at the end of the day.”
 
THE WINNING SPEECH: Cam Pearson is a sophomore guard on the BYU team. He has played a total of 8 minutes, 44 seconds this season and has not scored a point. 
 
But Pope believes every player on his roster is making winning contributions to the team, and that includes Pearson, whose assignment Monday was to deliver the pre-game speech.
 
“Cam ran into the locker room about 2 minutes before he was supposed to deliver his pre-game speech. He was so nervous,” Pope said. “And he’s not nervous because he’s scared of talking in front of the team. He’s nervous because he knows that his 2 minutes in that locker room is going to make a difference whether we win or lose, just like everybody does.
 
“It might have been the great pre-game speech ever,” Pope said, his enthusiasm now growing. “This guy is teaching our team what Veni, vidi, vici means and how it goes down. I don’t know if any of our guys know any Latin, but they do now. And then know it with a ton of juice.”
 
On Monday night, overtime, the Cougars came, they saw and they conquered.
 
STAT OF THE GAME: The game featured 49 fouls, including 25 by Pepperdine, sending BYU to the free throw line 27 times. The Cougars converted 23 of them.
 
QUOTE OF THE GAME: “We’ve joked around a little bit about how we’re beautiful ugly. We’ve won 20 times beautiful ugly this year, and we dig it. Let’s make some T-shirts.” — BYU coach Mark Pope after winning despite committing 21 turnovers and 24 fouls