By Kyle Jorrey
Sports Editor
To the 3,508 fans that attended the contest, it looked like Saturday night’s game against local rival Loyola Marymount was headed to overtime for sure.
Despite another big offensive performance from Terrance Johnson, who finished with a team-high 20 points, the score sat knotted at 65 with just eight seconds remaining and Pepperdine needing to cover 90-feet of court. Luckily for the Waves, speed demon freshman guard Shaun Davis came calling.
Though he had played only nine minutes the entire game, the freshman took the inbound pass, dribbled the length of the floor, drew a couple defenders and then calmly handed the ball off to Glen McGowan underneath the basket. A moment later, McGowan threw down a thunderous dunk, giving the Waves a 67-65 win and sending the 3,000-plus LMU fans home unhappy. It was the Lions’ 12th straight loss at the hands of their Pacific Coast Highway neighbor.
McGowan recalled the final moments of the game for the Graphic.
“Coach (Westphal) brought Shaun and I off the bench, and the play was for me to set a pick for Shaun, Yakhouba (Diawara) run baseline and then Shaun push it up the floor and whatever options he had take advantage of them, and that’s what he did,” McGowan said. “I just wanted to get in position to get an offensive rebound … I didn’t expect to be that open.”
Considering his performance in the first half, in which he had just one point and missed all seven of his field goal attempts, McGowan was an unlikely hero. But the big man came through when his teammates needed him most.
“The first half just seemed so bad, it was probably my worst half of basketball all season,” McGowan said. “I just had to keep confidence in myself … and I had confidence in teammates that they were going to help me through.”
Oddly enough, it was the second time in the season that McGowan and Davis had hooked up for a last-second, game-winning dunk. The first time, against Bradley, the slam gave Pepperdine an 81-80 win just as the buzzer sounded.
“It was like déjå vu,” McGowan said.
Though they got the much-needed win to keep pace with St. Mary’s for second in the conference, it was far from a great night for Waves’ basketball. After averaging 92 points in its last two contests, Pepperdine scored just 67 on just 40 percent shooting (22-of-56) and was outrebounded 42-40. The Waves also committed 18 turnovers.
Fortunately, Johnson continued his hot shooting streak by connecting on 6-of-10 shots and 4-of-8 three pointers. The junior out of Dallas has hit an incredible 15 three-pointers over his last three games.
After a mid-season slump, Johnson has reminded fans why he has been one of the WCC’s top outside shooters for the past three years.
“It’s just a matter of me finding my rhythm again,” Johnson said. “I got a little bit out of my rhythm throughout the course of the season, but coach kept confidence in me, and I kept confidence in myself that I could knock down shots.”
Making his usual all-around contributions, sophomore Alex Acker finished with 13 points, nine rebounds, five assists, two blocks and two steals. Yakhouba Diawara added 13 points and eight rebounds while Glen McGowan finished the night with 11 points and six rebounds despite his horrific start.
Also playing large against LMU was redshirt freshman Cody Horning, who has impressed coaches and fans all season with his hustle away from the ball. Coming off the bench, Horning grabbed five key rebounds in the second half that helped keep Lions at bay.
Next up for Pepperdine is two crucial road games that will decide their final seeding for the WCC tournament. The Waves will travel to compete against San Francisco on Thursday, then St. Mary’s on Saturday. If Pepperdine pulls off a win against the Gaels it will be assured the second-place seed the team is after.
Earlier in the season, the Waves won a barn-burner against St. Mary’s 86-82 at home at Firestone Fieldhouse. In that game, the Gaels shot 64 percent from the floor.
“One of the reasons the last game was a shootout is because their inside game is so good,” Head Coach Paul Westphal said. “We tried to take away their inside game at all costs, and they put on a show outside … they are a very balanced team and it’s hard to shut down everything. So you risk having them get real hot, but I doubt if we’ll see that type of shooting again.”
Submitted February 26, 2004