Freshman guard Keion Bell scored a career high 32 points on 13-for-14 shooting to lead the Pepperdine men’s basketball to its first road victory of the season and a 69-67 win over San Francisco Thursday evening. The Waves who led nearly the entire contest improved to 5-17 overall and 2-4 in the WCC and ended a six-game losing streak in War Memorial Gymnasium. It was Pepperdine’s first road win in nine tries and snapped a four-game overall losing streak. USF dropped to 8-13 0-6. Bell (Los Angeles Calif./Pasadena HS) hit his first nine shots of the game and sank all four of his three-pointers. He added four steals and three rebounds in 27 minutes. He finished two points shy of Pepperdine’s freshman record (34 by Tyrone Shelley last year) and one field goal made short of tying the school record for single-game field goal percentage (14-for-14 by Dana Jones in 1991). “We got our hands on a lot of balls and did a solid job defensively Pepperdine Coach Tom Asbury said. USF is as young as we are. But we showed some poise and grit. The last four or five minutes that’s where we have usually had problems. But I told our guys that with all of the minutes they’ve played they’re not freshmen anymore. We’re maturing a little bit. They hung in there. It’s great to get a road win and it’s important to win on the road. “Keion did a great job finishing plays. He was active tonight. He got some points on breakaways and did well finishing with an open court.” USF’s Dior Lowhorn the WCC’s leading scorer had 28 points and 10 rebounds. Unlike the four previous games where the Waves fell behind early Pepperdine got off to a terrific start in this one holding USF without a field goal for more than 6 _ minutes. The Waves hit six of their first seven shots several coming in transition and jumped out to a 16-3 lead. Bell and senior guard Ryan Holmes (Phoenix Ariz./Millennium HS/Phoenix CC) sparked the Waves to the big start with Bell scoring seven points and Holmes getting five along with a couple of steals and assists. The 13-point advantage has been the Waves’ largest in conference play. The Dons started taking better care of the ball and limiting the Waves’ fast-break opportunities however and an 8-0 run cut Pepperdine’s lead to 18-14 with less than eight minutes to go in the first half. USF would eventually tie the game at 25-25 but the Waves would eventually go into halftime with a 31-30 lead. Bell scored the Waves’ first seven points of the second half to improve their lead to 38-32. USF would rally however and take its first lead at 43-42 with 14:10 to play on Kwame Vaughn’s lay-up. After a couple of lead changes Bell put the Waves ahead 47-45 with a three-point play with 12:33 to go. Pepperdine took a few seven-point leads and then made it eight at 64-56 with less than four minutes to play after Bell’s fourth three-pointer of the game. A putback by freshman forward Taylor Darby (San Marcos Calif./Mission Hills HS) made it an eight-point game again at 66-58 with three minutes left but Lowhorn hit a jumper and a three-pointer cut the deficit to 66-63 with 1:30 to go. With the shot clock winding down sophomore forward Mychel Thompson (Ladera Ranch Calif./Stoneridge Prep) banked in a jumper from the right side to push Pepperdine’s advantage back up to 68-63 with 54 seconds left. USF’s Vaughn sank two free throws with 38 seconds left but senior guard Mike Hornbuckle (Westlake Village Calif./Oaks Christian HS/Azusa Pacific) made one of two free throws to make it a two-possession game again at 69-65 with 27.6 seconds left. The Dons turned the ball over but the Waves missed the front end of a one-and-one. USF’s Manny Quezada scored on a lay-up with 3.6 seconds left to make it 69-67. Holmes took the inbounds pass and was able to dribble out the rest of the court.
Pepperdine Graphic