Pepperdine and Washington State Advance at WCC Tournament – Netscouts Basketball

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Las Vegas, NV – The third round of the West Coast Conference tournament took place tonight with Pepperdine (11-21, 5-14) facing No. 5-seed Oregon State in the opener and LMU (17-14, 9-10) playing against No. 4-seeded Washington Statein the nightcap.  Pepperdine (12-21, 6-14) held on for the upset over Oregon State (20-12, 10-9) 77-73 as Stefan Todorovic led the way with a career-high 34 points on 5-of-9 from deep. Moe Odum added 17 points, ten assists and only one turnover. Damarco Minor led the Beavers with 22 points. In the second game Washington State got off to a strong start, kept up a double-digit lead much of the game and topped Loyola Marymount 94-77 as Ethan Price and Nate Calmese scored 22 points.

Oregon State and Pepperdine battled fairly evenly through the first half. Both the Beavers’ Nate Kingz (18 points) and the Waves’ Todorovic were both hot throughout the half. Each connected on 4-of-5 three-pointers with Kingz ending the half with 14 points and Todorovic with 19 points. Both starting point guards played very well with Odum of Pepperdine continuing his hot shooting. He scored ten points on 4-of-5 shooting (2-of-3 3’s) and added six assists. The Beavers’ Minor scored 11 points on 5-of-8 shooting. Oregon State took a 41-38 lead into the break after Liutauris Lelevicius connected on a jumper with 1.5 seconds remaining.

Todorovic continued his hot shooting in the second half, making another three-pointer that helped the Waves’ take a 57-51 lead. Todorovic kept up his scoring and the Waves went out to a 70-59 lead. The Beavers then ran off eight straight points with a Lelevicius (15 points) three-pointer cutting the deficit to three points. Oregon State then got cold at the wrong time, missing five late-three pointers but did get within two points twice in the last 30 seconds. Pepperdine held on for the win, helped by four late free throws. Michael Rataj, Oregon State’s leading scorer at 17.4 ppg, never got it going and only had one point, missing all four of his field goal attempts over 36 minutes of action.

In the second game, Washington State took an early double-digit lead helped by ten early points from Price, a 6-10 senior from England. At halftime the Cougars held a 47-39 lead, as Price scored 20 points, making 2-of-3 3’s and 8-of-9 shots overall. LeJuan Watts grabbed ten rebounds and added nine points and Washington State connected on 5-of-14 shots from deep. LMU shot only 6-of-20 on 3’s and were led by MJ Amey Jr’s 11 points (3-of-3 3’s).

The Cougars dominated the second half with the game never in question. Calmese and Rihards Vavers each scored 13 points in the half. Vavers, a 6-7 sophomore forward from Latvia, connected on all three of his three-point attempts in the half and finished the game with 16 points, on 4-of-5 from deep. LeJuan Watts finished with a double-double of 12 points and 13 rebounds and added five assists. Amey Jr. led LMU with 16 points, hitting 3-of-5 3’s, and added  a team-high eight rebounds.

Pepperdine advances to the quarterfinal against the No. 4 seed Santa Clara tomorrow at 5:30pm local time. In the nightcap Washington State (19-13, 9-10) with face No. 3 seed San Francisco.

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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