LAS VEGAS - Stefan Todorovic just wanted an opportunity to show what he can do on the basketball court. He got it this year at Pepperdine, and his fourth 30-point scoring performance of the season Saturday night was his best. And most important.
The senior from Belgrade, Serbia, after unsatisfying stops at SMU and San Francisco, scored a career-high 34 points as the ninth-seeded Waves upended No. 5 Oregon State 77-73 in third-round play at the Credit Union 1 West Coast Conference Basketball Championship.
Winners of two games at this event for the first time since 2019, Pepperdine (12-21) moves on to a Saturday quarterfinal matchup against No. 4 Santa Clara (20-11). Tipoff at Orleans Arena is 5:30 p.m.
“After last year, not getting a chance, this means a lot to me to get a chance at Pepperdine and show my talents. This is the result of the coaches and players believing in me,” the 6-foot-8 forward said. “Every win is a great win, a conference tournament win is always a special win. Picked last in the preseason (coaches) poll, it means a lot to us.”
Todorovic spent two seasons at SMU, where he averaged 4.3 points and less than 13 minutes per game. In his lone season at USF, both numbers were lower.
First-year Pepperdine coach Ed Schilling credited assistant Scott Rigot, who has extensive international scouting experience, with convincing him that Todorvic could help the Waves. Todorovic is known throughout Serbia as an elite young player, Schilling said.”
“Scott knew him, and he knew his talent, and he knew his ability back when he was a phenom as a youngster,” Schilling said.
Point guard Moe Odum, who transferred in from Pacific last offseason, said he and Todorovic began working out together over the summer and hinted they weren’t always on the same page. That’s no longer the case.
“The whole season he’s been great,” said Odum, who had 17 points and 10 assists, his second double-double in as many nights. “Me and Stef go back and forth all the time — we want what’s best for each other.
"To bring it together in the conference tournament — no arguments, we understand each other now 100 percent — just to see him go out and get 30 . . . I believe in him to make any shot he takes.”
The Beavers (20-12) led 40-38 at halftime before the Waves unleashed an 11-4 burst for a 59-51 lead. Todorovic scored 13 points in a 10-minute span as LMU’s lead reached 70-61.
Then the Waves’ Jaxon Olvera came down with a high, hard foul on OSU center Parsa Fallah, earning an ejection with 4:49 left. The Beavers responded with an 8-0 run that closed the gap to 70-67 with just over two minutes left.
Boubacar Coulibaly made 5 of 6 free throws in the final 2:02 in response for the Waves but Odum, who seemingly couldn’t miss the night before while scoring 31 points in the win over Portland, misfired twice on 1-and-1 free throw chances.
Todorovic made a pair with 27 seconds left for a 75-71 lead and when Odum got another chance with 14.1 seconds remaining he converted both.
“It was a huge relief, because, like, when I miss free throws, I feel like it's crazy. Like, how can I miss a free throw?” Odum said. “So just to make those two free throws that just goes to show like I'm not worried about the last two or the last three plays, I'm worried about the next play.”
Todorovic, the WCC’s second-leading scorer, finished 10 for 18 from the field, 5 for 9 from beyond the 3-point arc, and 9 for 9 from the foul line.
Point guard DaMarco Minor had 22 points and eight rebounds for OSU, Nate Kingz scored 18 points, Fallah had 16 and Liutauras Lelevicius added 15.
UP NEXT: The Waves get another shot at Santa Clara, which beat them 91-80 back on Dec. 28 in their only meeting of the season. They’ll have to do it playing their third game in as many days and after losing an hour to the start of daylight savings time.
Schilling said he’s a long-time admirer of Broncos coach Herb Sendek and the Broncos were going to have his full attention while preparing on Saturday night.
“They're a tremendous team. They got such great speed. They've got guards, they they play an exciting brand of basketball, and so we know I got our hands full,” he said “But our hands were full tonight, too. We're just going to try to make sure Pepperdine gets the best version of Pepperdine basketball that we can put out there.”
BEAVERS BOW OUT: OSU enjoyed its first 20-win regular season since the 1989-90 campaign and coach Wayne Tinkle said his program would welcome a postseason invitation.
“Heck, yeah. I think this team deserves it,” he said. “I think it'll be great recognition for the season that they've had. We've done a lot of good things and that would be a really good springboard for this team.”
The Beavers took on Pepperdine with an ailing star forward Michael Rataj. The junior forward from Germany, a first-team All-WCC selection who averaged 17.4 points this season, practiced just once all week, Tinkle said, because of a knee issue.
Rataj gave it a go, playing 36 minutes. But he took just one shot in the first half and finished with a season-low 1 point.
Tinkle hoped Rataj’s teammates might pick up the slack more effectively than they did. “When you have your fist-team all-league guy not at 100 percent, and then nobody else trying to, you know, picking up the slack, it made it tough.”