Las Vegas, NV – The West Coast Conference tournament played their quarterfinals tonight as Pepperdine tried for a third straight win facing No. 4-seed Santa Clara. In the nightcap Washington State faced No. 3-seed San Francisco.
Pepperdine (13-21, 7-14) did it, holding on for their third straight win in three days, upsetting Santa Clara 78-76. The Waves continued to get excellent play from Stefan Todorovic and Moe Odum Jr. Both scored 19 points and made three 3’s. Odum Jr. added 13 assists and five rebounds. Tyeree Bryan led the Broncos (20-12, 12-7) with 18 points, connecting on 4-of-6 from deep. In the nightcap Ryan Beasley scored 29 points (4-of-8 3’s) to lead San Francisco to an 86-75 win over Washington State. Ethan Price led the Cougars with 26 points, connecting on 3-of-6 three-pointers and added six rebounds.
Pepperdine stayed close with the Broncos throughout the first half with Santa Clara taking a 40-36 lead into the break. The Broncos shot 8-of-20 on 3’s with Bryan, Brenton Knapper and Johnny O’Neil each connecting on two. Pepperdine only shot 3-of-13 from deep. Knapper led the Broncos with ten points while Odum Jr., Todorovic and Boubacar Coulibaly each scoring nine points for the Waves. Santa Clara enjoyed a 21-13 edge on the boards including 6-2 on the offensive glass.
The Waves tied the game at 56 on a three-pointer from Todorovic and then took a 58-56 lead on a short jumper from center Danilo Dozic (7 points) midway through the second half. The Waves extended their lead to eight points as they went on an 8-0 run and held the Broncos without a field goal for six minutes. Santa Clara stayed withing striking distance and cut their deficit to 71-68 on a three-pointer by Knapper (17 points). A Dozic three-pointer extended the lead back to six points after the under 4-minute time out. Todorovic then hit a tough jumper in the lane with 1:23 left to extend the lead to five points. A Christopf Tully steal and dunk got the Broncos to within three points. Santa Clara had the ball with 10.3 seconds remaining with the chance to tie the game with a three-pointer. An Adama Bal three-pointer wasn’t close and Pepperdine closed the game at the free throw line.
Odum Jr. has been outstanding at the tournament. In the three games he has been in double-figures in points and assists in each game. He started with 31 points and 11 assists. Last night he had 17 points and ten assists and then 19 points and 13 assists tonight. He’s shot a combined 12-of-24 on three-pointers in the three games. Todorovic is averaging 24 points over the three games with his career-high of 34 points in last night’s win over Oregon State.
In the second game, Washington State and San Francisco battled evenly through the first half with USF taking a 34-32 lead into the break. The Dons destroyed the Cougars on the boards by a 31-14 margin, including a 15-1 edge on the offensive boards, but did not shoot well. They shot only 33% overall and 2-of-15 on 3’s. Ryan Beasley made their only two three-pointers, the rest of the team was 0-of-10. Malik Thomas led San Francisco in scoring with 12 points. Ethan Proce continued his strong tournament play, leading Washington State with 11 points.
USF got off to a quick start in the second half with an 8-0 run and extended their lead to 46-36 after a steal and three-point play from Beasley. The Cougars stormed right back on a 9-0 run helped by another Price three-pointer to cut USF’s lead to 52-50. USF came back with a 7-0 run, taking a 63-54 lead. Beasley then hit another three-pointer to extend the Dons’ lead to 66-56. USF kept a safe lead from there to finish with the ten-point victory. USF had a 49-25 rebounding edge, including 21-5 on the offensive glass.
Pepperdine advances to the semifinals tomorrow evening against top-seeded St. Mary’s. In the nightcap San Francisco (24-8, 14-5) will face No. 2 seed Gonzaga.
This article was written by Carl Berman, Managing Partner of NetScouts Basketball. You can follow us on Facebook, or on twitter.
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