Terrance Johnson paced the Waves with 23 points, and Jimmy Miggins was all over the stat sheet with 20 points, nine rebounds, four steals and three assists. Mike Westphal chipped in 16 points off the bench as the Waves shot 54.5% for the game, 43% from three-point range.
Sherman Gay and Brandon Worthy tried to keep Loyola Marymount in the game with 14 and 13 points, respectively. But the Lions’ perimeter players simply could not find the basket, as Keith Kincade, Charles Brown, and Wes Wardrop combined for 3-19 shooting.
Brown in particular had one of the most miserable evenings of his career, shooting 1-10 with just five points and four turnovers.
Pepperdine (14-11, 6-6 WCC) dominated pretty much start to finish, playing two virtually identical halves. The Waves outscored the Lions 47-35 in the first half and 47-36 in the second. They also made exactly six of 14 three-point attempts in each period.
For the first time in several games, the Waves had an opportunity to play all their available players. Little-used Dustin Johnson, Derick Grubb, and David Patten combined to shoot 3-5 from the field and collect seven points and four rebounds in a total of 21 minutes. Last weekend on the road, the Waves basically used just six players.
Pepperdine winds up the regular season with two home games next weekend against St. Mary’s and San Francisco. The San Francisco game in particular could me of major significance with the fourth-place Waves standing at 6-6, looking up at the Dons’ 7-5 mark. Finishing third, assuming the seeds hold in the early rounds, would mean avoiding Gonzaga in the semifinals.
Of course, playing host San Diego in that round would be no picnic either, as the Toreros have clinched a tie for second place with a 9-3 WCC mark.
For now, the Waves agree their priority is this weekend’s games. They’ll let the conference tournament seedings take care of themselves.