Malibu, Calif. – Playing its fourth WCC game in eight days seemed to take its toll on Santa Clara in Malibu Saturday night as Santa Clara fell 74-62 at Pepperdine. Santa Clara returns home to host Portland on Feb. 2 at 7 pm on ESPNU before it travels to San Diego on Sat., Feb. 4 for a 7 pm match-up.
Santa Clara is 8-13 and 0-8 in the WCC. Pepperdine is 8-13 and 2-8 in the WCC.
Santa Clara shot 47.1 percent from the field (24 of 51), including 44.4 percent from beyond the arc (8 of 18). Santa Clara collected 22 rebounds, 13 assists, five steals and four blocks. While they turned the ball over 18 times, they shot 60.0 percent from the free throw line (6 of 10).
Evan Roquemore led the Broncos with 15 points and five assists. Raymond Cowels III and Brandon Clark both scored 12 each. John McArthur led the Broncos with four rebounds and added eight points. Denzel Johnson also scored eight coming off his 26-point performance vs. USF on Thursday.
Individually Jordan Baker led the Waves with 15 points. Joshua Lowery added 14 and Taylor Darby 11. Corbin Moore grabbed a double-double with 11 points and 10 rebounds. Caleb Willis had a game-high six assists.
Baker hit a three from the top of the key to start the game at 19:32. McArthur answered from 10 feet out at 19:02. Roquemore hit a covered three at 17:37. Baker answered with a three and one at 17:00. Roquemore hit his second three in a minute to give SCU an 8-7 lead.
The teams traded baskets with Johnson connecting inside at 15:32. The team's traded basket.
SCU went on a 6-0 run with McArthur hitting from six feet out at 12:41 and Pep led 15-14. Cowels III nailed a three and one when fouled by Darby, his second of the half, at 12:05, putting SCU up three, 18-15.
A Waves basket and two free throws later put Pep up 19-18 at 10:40. McArthur inside gave the Broncos a 20-19 lead at 9:28. Lowery scored at 8:27.
McArthur scored again from the same spot at 5:21 and the Waves answered quickly from 10 feet out. Harrison dumped in a dandy basket at 4:13 with the Waves running coast to coast to score and Willis hitting a free throw, 28-24 Waves at 2:53.
McArthur stole the ball and passed it to Roquemore who danced alone with two defenders before hitting a basket for two, 30-28 Waves with 57.5 seconds left in the half. The Waves led 32-28 at the half.
Santa Clara shot 46.2 percent from the field (12 of 26), including 33.3 percent from beyond the arc (3 of 9). Santa Clara collected 11 rebounds, eight assists, two steals and two blocks. While they turned the ball over eight times, they shot 100.0 percent from the free throw line (1 of 1). Individually Roquemore led the Broncos with 10 points and three assists and McArthur chipped in eight.
Pepperdine shot 50.0 percent from the field (12 of 24), including 100.0 percent from beyond the arc (2 of 2). Pepperdine collected 15 rebounds, seven assists, two steals and two blocks. While they turned the ball over eight times, they shot 85.7 percent from the free throw line (6 of 7). Individually Baker led the Waves with 13 points.
The teams traded baskets to start the second half with Johnson connecting from eight feet out. Harrison added a basket inside at 18:17.
Pepperdine went on a 9-0 run. During the run, Nikolas Skouen hit back-to-back threes at 17:44 and 16:39. Johnson stopped the run with a bucket at 14:32.
Darby's two free throws at 10:43 were followed by a leaping bucket in the middle by Roquemore at 10:19.
The Waves went on a 7-0 run to take a 53-42 lead. Roquemore's free throw at 7:43 stopped the run. Roquemore scored a pair at the charity stripe at 6:38.
Lowery's three put Pep up by 17 at 5:10, 62-45. Yannick Atanga scored an and one at 5:05.
Cowels III scored a basket at 2:19.
Notes: As a result of an incident last weekend, Kevin Foster is being withheld from competition pending the outcome of the University's student judicial process. He did not play vs. LMU, vs. USF and at Pepperdine this week.