Firestone Fieldhouse was blasting with emotions as the Waves took victory over Occidental College in an exhibition game of the pre-season. Pepperdine beat Occidental, scoring 78 points overall (78-72), with senior Taylor Darby and junior Joshua Lowery leading the team to the win Saturday.
Pepperdine finished the first half with just 4 points behind their opponents (36-32). However, the Waves managed to steal the victory in the second half, by a series of fast attacks making
it impossible for the tigers to make up for the points lost.
“I am very proud of how our players handled some adversity in our first game and how they continued to focus on the process of the game one possession at a time,” Head Coach Marty Wilson said. “Our strong moments were when we started to pick up the ball handler a little sooner to create more scoring off of our defense. We were not very active in early part of the game. I was pleased that we rebounded the ball very well and got the win.”
The game became a successful debut of several newcomers on the Waves team. Sophomore guard from Norway Nikolas Skouen added 13 points to the team’s lead, and freshman Jordan Baker added 12 more in the game. Senior Taylor Darby, one of the WCC’s top rebounders for the past three years, and junior Joshua Lowery each scored 15 points, distinguishing their performances and making them the leaders at the event.
“We had three players in double figures in rebounding, which is very hard to do. Some things that we have to work on are playing against the zone and getting more ball and man movement,” Wilson said. “We have not spent a great amount of time versus the zone and did not anticipate them playing zone the entire time.”
“I was excited to play my first game for Pepperdine in front of the home crowd,” sophomore Skouen said. “Even though it was a very good game, I think we still need to work on improving many little things in our game that will help us to succeed.”
Speaking about the future plans for the season, Wilson mentioned that 4 out of the 10 top players of the team are injured and an important priority is to get them back in shape. “Number one, we need to get healthy! As we begin to get [players] back into practice and games, it gives us more depth to do more things and gives us more threats at the offensive and defensive end of the floor.”
The Waves senior 6-foot-2 guard Lorne Jackson, who was one of the leading players during the past season, is recovering from knee surgery because of an injury he got over summer.
“Our main goal is to learn from our last experience and continue to improve upon it,” Wilson said. “I would also like to thank the students for coming out to that game and hope that they will support our team as we continue to develop our basketball program.”
Pepperdine will step into their regular season at the home game against Pomona-Pitzer, another Division III SCIAC opponent, Saturday, Nov. 12.
