GREG BARNETT
Sports Assistant
Pepperdine men’s basketball opened its season last weekend in Eugene, Ore., at the World Vision Invitational with three consecutive losses. The Waves dropped contests to Oregon, Western Michigan and Pacific.
During Saturday’s match against No.-12 Oregon, the Ducks dominated the Waves with a 30-point victory, 100-70.
“They (Oregon) are a good team, a lot of weapons back, very experienced and it’s nice to play on your home court,” Head Coach Vance Walberg said.
Pepperdine’s freshmen performed well in their college debuts, with 57 of 70 points coming from them. Freshman Malcolm Thomas led the Waves with a game-high 22 points, followed by fellow freshmen Daniel Johnson and Tyrone Shelley, who had 13 and 12 points, respectively.
The Ducks, an elite eight team last season, shot 51.9 percent to Pepperdine’s 30.6 percent and dominated in rebounding 58-40.
The Waves looked to bounce back from the loss on Sunday against Western Michigan. After being down by eight at halftime, Pepperdine had a spirited comeback in the second half to take the lead 61-60 with 2:37 left on a three-pointer by senior guard Jason Walberg.
However, the Waves were outscored 7-1 in the final 1:15 to lose the game 70-65.
“You can’t take credit away from them,” junior Rico Tucker said. “They made shots when they had to and defense is important. We need to come up with more loose balls.”
For the second consecutive game, the freshmen carried the load, scoring 47 of the 65 points.
Thomas had his first career double-double with 10 points and 11 rebounds before fouling out with 1:15 to go. Johnson led the team with a game-high 15 points.
The Waves shot just 30.9 percent while Western Michigan shot 38.1 percent. Pepperdine also was a weak 7 for 38 from the 3-point line.
The Waves closed out the tournament on Monday against the Pacific Tigers. Pacific started out strong, led by junior guard Steffan Johnson who had 32 points, including 13 in the first five minutes.
The Waves were down 38-33 at halftime, but whittled the lead down to four points several times in the second half. However, the Waves never got any closer, dropping the game 84-76.
Pepperdine played without Walberg due to sickness and without senior Jarrad Henry due to a thumb injury. The Waves only had one returning player, senior guard Tyler Carr, available for the game against the Tigers.
The Waves host their first regular-season home game Saturday at 7 p.m. against Cal State Northridge. At halftime, the 1947 Pepperdine football team will be honored with commemorative footballs and plaques. The first 1000 people in attendance will receive a rally towel with the championship banner on it.
Walberg said as long as the team works hard in practice and gets better every day, results will come over the course of the year.
“Our biggest goal is to get better every day at practice,” he said. “Just keep positive and myself be patient, things can get better by the end of the year.”
11-15-2007
