By Kyle Jorrey
Sports Editor
Chances are fans walking into Firestone Fieldhouse Wednesday night amid the sea of orange and blue probably couldn’t tell they were watching a game between two teams headed in opposite directions.
It was obvious the capacity crowd that filled the gym wasn’t interested in stats or records, they were there to watch what has become the WCC’s most anticipated game. They were there to see another Gonzaga versus Pepperdine thriller.
But the dream was not to be.
On the back of junior guard Blake Stepp’s 27 points on 5-of-12 three point shots, the Bulldogs (17-5, 8-0) defeated the Waves 78-63. After falling to conference foes San Francisco (87-77) and St. Mary’s (74-67) over the weekend, the Waves fell to 11-10 overall and 3-5 in conference.
It is the first time since 1997 that Pepperdine has lost three consecutive WCC contests.
The Bulldogs were able to take the crowd out of the game early, jumping to a 21-12 lead by finishing off Pepperdine turnovers. But the Waves, not wanting to let the game get out of hand early like they had done in Spokane, played hard. Senior forward Jimmy Miggins and freshman point guard Alex Acker found the hoop early, and got outside help from senior Boomer Brazzle and sophomore Terrence Johnson’s outside shooting.
But it seemed every time the Waves would start to pull close, grabbing a couple rebounds or causing a turnover, the Zags would come back with three. And more often than not it left from the hands of Stepp.
“We had trouble making shots and they couldn’t seem to miss,” Johnson said after the game. “In the first half they had 51 points, and I think 30 of that was three-pointers.”
He was right. In the first half alone, the Zags shot 56.7 percent, and went an incredible 10 for 17 from beyond the arc.
Despite the three-point clinic that was going on around them, the Waves continued to show heart.
When Miggins scored on a short jumper in the key and Brazzle answered with a long jumper from the baseline, the enthusiastic crowd went into its first uproar of the half. Pepperdine, which shot 54.8 percent in the half, finished the first with an 8-5 run that got them to within nine points going into the locker room.
The second half started out aggressively, as the Waves managed to pick up four team fouls in just three minutes of play. But the Zags started out cold, and sophomore, high flying Robert Turner made them pay.
With 16 minutes to play and his team down eight, Turner grabbed a rebound out of the air off a teammate’s miss and thundered it into the rim. For one moment, the sell-out crowd was on its feet, and the Waves had cut the lead to six.
So, just as they had all game, the Zags turned to their star, Stepp, and he turned to the long shot. Stepp quickly knocked down a couple treys, one from far beyond college regulation boundaries, and just like that the lead was back to double-digits.
The Waves would never again contend for the lead.
The final minutes of the game would see a frustrated Pepperdine squad begin to falter, making poor decisions with the ball, missing open shots and giving up uncharacteristic offensive boards. Despite tough late game baskets by Miggins and Johnson, the Bulldogs held tightly to their lead and milked the clock to perfection.
Maybe Miggins, who finished the game with a spirited 14 points, summed up the game best.
“We missed a lot of easy shots, and they made all of theirs,” Miggins said. “Every time we needed a big stop they would either get a three or get to the free throw line … We just couldn’t score enough to overcome the deficit. They are a strong team inside and out, and that makes them a pretty hard team to beat.”
Johnson led all Waves with 20 points and seven rebounds, while Acker and Brazzle chipped in nine and 12 respectively.
Behind the dominate performance of the sharpshooter Stepp, sophomore forward Corey Violette added 11 points and 14 boards and junior guard Kyle Bankhead scored 12 for Gonzaga. After their victory, Violette talked about the Pepperdine effort.
“(The Waves) always play us tough because they match up so well,” Violette said. “We are bigger than they are, but they have the speed and quickness to make up for it … We just hit the big shots tonight.”
Violette talked about what Stepp’s ability to hit the long ball means to the team.
“It’s huge. It just leaves (our opponent) deflated,” he said.
The Waves will look to get things turned back in the right direction this Saturday as they take on Portland University at home. Pepperdine, now sitting fifth in the WCC, won its first contest against the Pilots 82-68.
Regardless of the past week’s setbacks, the battle-worn group of Wave players aren’t ready to pack in their things and call it a season. Especially Miggins, who is playing the last games of his collegiate career.
“We’ve been playing good, it’s just that some teams are stronger inside,” Miggins said. “We just have to keep practicing, keep working hard and get things going for the conference tournament.”
Johnson said the same.
“We’ve got to finish out our conference schedule with as few losses as possible, start feeling more comfortable on the road, and go into the conference tournament with confidence in ourselves and our ability to win,” Johnson said.
Head Coach Paul Westphal echoed his players sentiments.
“That’s what’s great about the WCC tournament,” he said. “If we start playing well, there’s no telling what could happen.”
February 06, 2003