Pepperdine Closes Strong in Victory

Alex Acker had a game-high 25 points and Pepperdine made nine free throws in the last two minutes to withstand a second-half comeback by Long Beach State for an 82-78 victory in front of 1,919 Tuesday night at the Pyramid.

Pepperdine (3-1) won its third in a row since a season-opening loss to East Carolina. Glen McGowan had 15 points for the Waves.

Long Beach (0-2) fought back from a 13-point second-half deficit and tied the score at 66-66 on Sam Byrd’s dunk with 6:59 left but could never take the lead.

“We had a 10-point lead [against Fairleigh Dickinson] with two minutes to go and then it looked like we’ve never played basketball before,� Pepperdine Coach Paul Westphal said. “Tonight, we executed in the last two minutes and won the game.�

Anthony Coleman led Long Beach with 17 points.

Eric Stephens

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No. 20 Wisconsin 72, UC Santa Barbara 61 -- Clayton Hanson scored 16 of his 18 points in the second half at Madison, Wis., as the Badgers (2-0) won their 30th consecutive home game. Casey Cook had 21 points for the Gauchos (1-1).

Vanderbilt 93, Cal State Northridge 75 -- Corey Smith scored a career-high 21 points to lead the Commodores (3-0) in the second round of the Las Vegas Holiday Invitational at Nashville. Freshman Calvin Chitwood led Northridge (0-2) with 21 points. The teams will play two games in Las Vegas on Nov. 26-27.