GARRETT WAIT
Sports Editor
The fans are obnoxious, the players are dirty and they’ve got even less to boast about after our Pepperdine Waves took them down a few pegs Saturday evening. They are the Loyola Marymount Lions, and they’re still our worst rivals in every sense of the word.
It wasn’t that we won that made me so proud as a Waves fan; it was how we did it. And yes, you may notice I’m speaking in the first person “we” concerning this game. Pepperdine didn’t just win on the court, we won in the stands as well. We were louder, prouder and showed truckloads more class than our cross-town foes.
Their fans apparently still haven’t done their research about our so-called “curfew,” but that’s OK. They just sound stupid every time they pull that tired chant out (which they do between 600 and 700 times a game). That shows a real lack of thought and knowledge of the opponent, which is something that extends past the fans and into the LMU players and the coaching staff as well.
How do I know this is true? One only has to look at the matchups they kept sending out on the cour, then look at how that played out in the box score. The most glaring example? The fact that LMU senior guard Wes Wardrop was continually matched up against Pepperdine senior Tashaan Forehan-Kelly.
Wardrop simply couldn’t guard Forehan-Kelly, as evidenced by him dropping 35 points on poor Wardrop. It was a mismatch in every sense of the word. On most possessions, Forehan-Kelly would catch the ball, back Wardrop down a little bit, turn and shoot and start jogging back down the court knowing that the ball was in the basket.
On others, Forehan-Kelly’s first step would be more than enough to get past Wardrop and into the nub teeth of the Lions’ defense where he would either make a layup or get fouled in the process. It was domination in every sense of the word for the Pepperdine guard on that night. I’m sure Forehan-Kelly wouldn’t mind seeing Wardrop on him any night of the week.
Then there’s the defensive end. Wardrop came into the game as LMU’s leading scorer in West Coast Conference games, averaging nearly 19 points per game. Pepperdine Coach Paul Westphal’s switching defense kept Wardrop off-balance all night long, holding the gunner to just 11 points on 4-of-15 shooting.
Wardrop’s ugly night mercifully ended a few minutes before the Waves took the eight-point victory when he fouled out trying desperately to guard an inbound pass to Russell Hicks. Pepperdine’s decision to key in on Wardrop and take away his ability to shoot the ball probably won them the game.
With all the Waves guards running at the three-point shooters, LMU center Matthew Knight had to shoulder much of the offensive load and he’s just not quite capable of carrying his team. Mostly because every time down the floor, he’s too worried about flopping to draw a foul than getting good inside position. Sure, he had 18 points, but they were the 18 most difficult points of his life thanks to the long arms of Hicks, Derick Grubb, Chris Oakes and Jarrad Henry.
After the game was over, LMU fans began threatening Pepperdine students. Of course, idle threats were all they could resort to, since Pepperdine had once again won the game. They also began committing minor acts of vandalism, such as overturning trash cans in the parking lot. Proof positive that they are indeed classless.
All those shenanigans aside, Pepperdine came out a winner for the 16th time in the past 17 games against LMU and pushed its record in the conference to 3-4. The Waves are in fifth place in the conference despite having the youngest lineup on the West Coast. But now the first half of the conference season is over and teams are starting to make their push toward better seeds the conference tournament. It’s only going to get tougher from here.
Pepperdine has the guns to play with anybody and is gaining confidence thanks to a couple of back-to-back home wins. But the Waves have to go on the road for five of the next seven games, a true test for a team this young.
These Waves can definitely make a run toward the top half of the conference, but the good play is going to have to continue. After all, nothing comes easy in the WCC. Just ask LMU.
02-02-2006
