Walking out of practice Tuesday Keion Bell was all smiles. The freshman guard and the rest of the men’s basketball team were walking to the sound of a different tune despite their 8-18 record and even after a grueling four hour practice.
After all they did have the best weekend of any team in the West Coast Conference. They continued a good streak and ended a horrible skid. Not bad for two days of work.
Bell and senior point guard Ryan Holmes led the way for the Waves (8-18 5-5) during homecoming weekend piling up two victories – against Santa Clara and San Diego – to win five games in WCC play for the first time since 2005.
Thursday the Waves continued their staunch defensive effort from the past weeks against Santa Clara as the Broncos came in with a three game losing streak at Firestone Fieldhouse. With a 66-60 come-from-behind victory the Waves made it four in a row against Santa Clara.
The first half looked just as it did when the Waves took on the Broncos earlier in the year with Santa Clara clicking on all cylinders to lead 37-24 at the break on 5-of-8 shooting from behind the arc and 54.2 percent overall.
“Going into the locker room we told the team to stick to the game plan: defense and rebounding said Head Coach Tom Asbury. The idea of holding teams to low shooting percentages and not letting them get offensive rebounds. We knew sticking to our game plan was going to put us back into this game.”
Part of that plan was shutting down Santa Clara offensive giant John Bryant. Sophomore transfer and rarely used bench player Gus Clardy seemed up to the challenge after his first stint against guarding what many experts consider a top-5 college player.
“Guarding Bryant is like trying to guard a house Clardy said. I liked the challenge for two games though and he worked for every little point and rebound in that second game.”
The plan also included sophomore transfer Jonathan Dupre who came out at half time guns blazing scoring 12 of his career-high 16 points in the second half tying the game at 58 on his last shot with 2:37 left.
The bucket was part of a 16-0 run that closed out the game for the Waves winning in breathtaking come-from-behind fashion 66-60. Bell and sophomore swingman Mychel Thompson had 14 points each and both hit key free throws with less than a minute left to seal the victory – the Waves’ second straight and fourth in a row at home against the Broncos.
On Saturday the team was met by an almost packed house (the attendance was larger than the two previous games combined) to face USD winners of the last nine against the Waves.But Pepperdine had the momentum on its side as the Toreros were coming off a loss to lowly Loyola Marymount and had lost of five out of their last six games.
Despite an early 11-point deficit the Waves followed the defensive game plan Asbury preached holding USD to 33.9 percent shooting and only two three-pointers in a 57-52 battle for their third straight win.
Bell and Holmes combined for 35 of the team’s points and despite a zero-for-eight performance Thompson had eight rebounds including two key defensive rebounds down the stretch on Torero-missed-threes in the final minutes to tie the game.
Gyno Pomare the Toreros’ leading scorer and rebounder only played two second-half minutes and then was benched the rest of the way.
“I didn’t mind the benching but I was just like everyone else scratching their heads Holmes said in regards to the decision to bench Pomare. Whatever the problem was we thank [USD Head Coach Bill Grier] for not letting him back in.”
In both games the Waves hit the boards out-rebounding the opposition by a plus-22 margin in the two victories as Pepperdine snapped its nine game skid against USD and has now won four out of their last five overall.
With other teams such as the Toreros SCU and Saint Mary’s faltering down the stretch the Waves sit in 5th place with a chance of getting into the top of the conference table (and perhaps a first-round bye in the WCC Tournament) by the end of the month.
“We are a completely different team and you can see that by our victories since [Holmes] came back Bell said after Saturday’s close victory against USD.
The team does not expect things to be bright and sunny much longer, though. The Waves will face their toughest road trip of the season as they head up to the cold, damp Northwest, taking on the WCC’s top two teams Thursday at Portland (16-9, 7-3) and Saturday against No.-17 Gonzaga (19-5, 10-0).
Falling behind early against the Pilots and the Bulldogs was the downfall for Pepperdine last time, and the team is ready to put its newfound winning ways to the test.
We will obviously try and start the games off better than the previous two Bell said. But I can’t stress enough how different of a team we are than a few weeks ago.”
Bell gets honored
With Bell’s stellar performance throughout both games during the weekend the freshman guard was honored as the WCC Player of the Week on Monday. Bell averaged 16 points 7.5 rebounds 4.5 assists and 3.5 steals including his third double-double of the season (18 points and 10 rebounds) in the win over San Diego.
“In conference play Keion has been terrific Asbury said. He keeps getting better and better with the ball playing smarter on defense and without the ball on offense.”
Bell was the first Pepperdine player to receive the honor since Chase Griffin in Feb. 2007 and the first freshman in Malibu since Shaun Davis in Dec. 2003.
“I was in study hall when a coach pulled up the announcement on my computer Bell said. It’s cool being a freshman and getting the award for Pepperdine for the first time in a while.”
Holmes praised the freshman for his outstanding play.
“Keion is playing great Holmes said. He has started to take better care of the ball and rebounding for us in key situations. I told him at the end of the San Diego game he needed to take care of the rebounding for us and he now leads the team in that category.”
Clardy gets a chance
Sophomore forward and walk-on Gus Clardy seldom used before conference has now become a key situational defensive presence for Asbury. After averaging only 5.6 minutes a contest earlier in the season the 6-foot-6 Clardy was put in against 6-foot-11 Santa Clara center John Bryant and Asbury liked what he saw.
“Gus is a lot more physical than any of our other big forwards Asbury said. He is able to defend bigger players than him because he is willing to get after players on defense.”
Clardy has averaged 16.3 minutes in the last four games hitting a few mid-range jumpers and layups along the way to delight the home crowd at Firestone Fieldhouse.
“It’s that old saying ‘You have to be ready to go at any time'” Clardy said. “When [coach Asbury] has given me more minutes than usual I try to take advantage of that. I haven’t played many minutes at home so it was fun to have my fraternity brothers (Clardy is in Alpha Tau Omega) cheering me on and giving me an extra boost against San Diego.”