Men miss chance to topple Pepperdine
By BRIAN ELSNER
Relying on clutch shooting and excellent guard play, Pepperdine prevented a men's basketball sweep by beating Santa Clara in Southern California on Saturday by a score of 67-59. Santa Clara started the weekend off strong with a 70-55 win against Loyola Marymount, but blew a nine-point second half lead against the Waves, who along with Gonzaga lead the conference with a 6-0 record.
The Broncos fell to 3-3 in the West Coast Conference and 12-9 overall on the season.After leading by one at the half, the Broncos built a nine-point cushion on the Waves with 15:30 to go in the game. Pepperdine responded with a run of their own, capped by a Tommie Prince three- pointer that swung the momentum and the lead back to the Waves. The Broncos could not respond as Pepperdine continued to hit big shots down the stretch.
"We just couldn't make our shots and they [Pepperdine] hit some huge threes," senior Todd Wuschnig said. "I mean we even missed our foul shots."
Point guard Tezale Archie led the Waves with 18 points along with six rebounds and five assists. Kelvin Gibbs grabbed eight boards of his own as Pepperdine out-rebounded the Broncos 36-26. Senior Darrell Teat and junior Brian Jones paced Santa Clara with 16 points each.
Loyola Marymount proved to be an easier opponent for the Broncos on Friday night. After a close game with the 2-17 Lions at Toso Pavilion the weekend before, Santa Clara jumped out to an early advantage on the road with a 34-23 halftime lead. Despite only shooting 35.2 percent from the field, the Broncos led by as many as 26 points in the second half.
Unlike the Pepperdine game, Santa Clara owned the glass against the Lions with a 45-30 advantage, including 21 on the offensive end of the floor. Jones and senior Nathan Fast led the Broncos with 14 points each and Wuschnig added 10 rebounds.
"I think we played with more energy this weekend," Wushnig said. "We need to continue that this weekend."
Santa Clara returns home to take on the University of San Diego and Saint Mary's in conference play. The Torerros, led by Andre Laws (14.5 points per game) and Dana White (3.39 assists per game), are a strong perimeter team with a one-game lead on the Broncos in the WCC.
Saint Mary's features a guessing game called, "Where's Millard?" The seven-foot man they call "Big Continent" has sat out eight straight games with a variety of ailments and a suspension.
Friday and Saturday's games will tip-off at 7:30 p.m. under the Bubble.
"We need to play hard for the full forty minutes," junior Jamie Holmes said. "We can't fall into a lapse this weekend where we just stop playing."