The Waves are back.
Pepperdine Men’s Basketball earned an expected win against Life Pacific on Dec. 4, scoring 119 against Life Pacific’s 57. The squad recently came off a loss against Weber State University, making their record 2-6. The Waves’ triple-digit win is the largest win margin of the season, surpassing the 128-67 victory at the Lincoln Exhibition on Nov. 2.
Head Coach Ed Schilling started senior forward Stefan Todorovic, redshirt junior guard Zion Bethea, sophomore guard/forward Dovydas Butka, junior guard Moe Odum and redshirt senior forward Boubacar Coulibaly.
Waves won the tip-off against Pacific, and Odum received the ball to set off the match. Pacific quickly settled in a 2-3 defensive set, however that did not stop the Waves. Todorovic broke through the defense, scoring a strong layup in the paint, the first point of the game.
On the defensive end, the Waves continued with their standard man defense, causing a Pacific turnover, and at 17:45, the scoring momentum began. Odum dished a pass to Bethea, who sneaked through the defense to score in the paint. The Waves took a 9-5 lead.
The defensive and offensive efforts by the Waves worked hand in hand during the first quarter. Dovydas missed a 3-pointer, but Coulibaly quickly recovered with a put-up for two points.
After a nice fast break by Odum, resulting in an assist to Butka who was awarded an and-one, Pacific changed their defensive approach from 2-3 to 3-2. Again, the Waves broke through the defense with a fast break assist from Odum to Butka.
At 14:50, the first media team timeout was called, with Pepperdine up 18-7. Freshman forward Danilo Dozic subbed in for Butka, and Pacific did a five-in-five-out sub.
Pepperdine continued with the strong offense in the latter half of the first quarter which forced Pacific to change their defense yet again to man defense. Quickly dismantled by the Waves, Dozic completed a successful jumper making the score 20-9.
Freshman guard Jaxon Olvera made his Waves debut in this game as a sub for Bethea, and graduate forward Alonso Faure subbed in for Coulibaly. The Waves halted Pacific from scoring for nearly two minutes, ending the first quarter up 24-9.
The second quarter opened with redshirt sophomore guard David Mager and freshman guard Taj Au-Duke replacing Odum and Todorovic, respectively. Pepperdine remained in their standard man defense, however, Mager faltered, allowing Pacific’s junior forward Albert Matute to shoot a fluid turn-around floater, breaking their dry streak.
The Waves’ bench came off strong, with Au-Duke scoring both foul shots, and Olvera missing a three, but Dozic with the putback. With nine minutes remaining, Olvera scores his first point of the game, a deep three, setting the score at 33-16
Pepperdine widened the lead in the second quarter with strong defensive and offensive efforts across the roster. A fast break from Odum, a forced turnover by Au-Duke and a solid tip-in by Dozic all contributed to the lead.
With two minutes before halftime, Bethea flipped the court by forcing a turnover against Life Pacific. With the momentum, he passed to Dozic, who showcased his nearly 7-foot stature with a dunk.
Ending the first half 55-27, the Waves were comfortable, yet they didn’t let up. The starting five returned in the second half, with Todorovic setting off the last 24 minutes with a fast break assist to Butka, securing the first point after the break.
The team continued with strong defense under the board from Bethea and Fraure, and strong offense by Olvera, who managed to break through a Life Pacific double-team and finish with a nice layup.
The last 24 minutes were packed with exciting scoring from each team. Bethea continued his outstanding performance with another steal, gaining him the momentum to book it to the hole with a smooth layup. Graduate forward Alex Leiba, who was able to keep up with the constant ball movement on the Waves side, shook the court with a strong dunk in the paint.
“I feel like if we play like that every game, we’ll be sharing the ball, and everybody in, I feel like we should have a good season,” Odum said.
All in all, Pepperdine proved they’re still a force to be reckoned with, dominating Life Pacific with an impressive 62-point victory. The bench provided a considerable amount of assistance to this victory, with 45% of the points scored from the bench, a stark contrast to 7% of bench points against Weber State.
“I think the best thing we did is that we involved everybody in the game today,” Todorovic said. “And guys who don’t play a lot of minutes, in general, they had a chance to play a lot of minutes, and they stepped up and played really good.”
Todorovic and Bethea led the Waves in points, Faure in rebounds and Odum in assists, all contributing to the Waves’ success. Pepperdine secured 33 assists, all according to Pepperdine Athletics.
“The biggest thing is we really shared the basketball,” Schilling said, “I mean, our assist-turnover ratio was off the charts. The biggest thing is being unselfish and really trying to make the others around them better.”
Schilling said his team was able to work on pushing it during the transition and standing strong in man-on-man defense, all of which were essential to their win against Grambling State.
“We just really tried to keep our man in front of us and stick with our defensive fundamentals,” Schilling said.
The Waves are now 4-6, 9th in the West Coast Conference, and continued their winning streak against Grambling State University on Dec. 7 in Firestone Fieldhouse.
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Contact Shalom Montgomery via email: shalom.montgomery@pepperdine.edu
