Pepperdine Gets to Use a Little Home Remedy

Staggering to Malibu after losing four consecutive road games, Pepperdine was able to fend off Long Beach State, 92-86, Saturday night and earn its first victory in December.

Four players finished in double figures for the Waves (2-6), led by Tashaan Forehan-Kelly with 23 points and 10 rebounds. Michael Gerrity had 21 points to go with six assists. Willie Galick had 19 points, and Chase Griffin had 11.

“We had a sustained effort tonight,” Coach Paul Westphal said. “And it was really good to have one of our key players, Galick, back. He’s been playing with bandaged hands because of sprained wrists, and it was like playing with boxing gloves on. He was more like the guy we expected him to be tonight.”

As for the 49ers (2-6), it was their fourth consecutive loss, and eighth in a row to the Waves, dating to the 1986-87 season.

The 49ers got 18 points from Jibril Hodges and 17 each from Kevin Houston and Kejuan Johnson, who made his season debut after becoming eligible during the week.

But although the 49ers won the battle on the boards, 40-38, and were effective from three-point range (11 of 26), they committed 19 turnovers (to 14 by Pepperdine) and missed 12 of 27 free throws.

“Tonight, I thought we shot the ball a lot better than we did last Saturday [against San Jose State],” Coach Frank Reynolds said. “Not that we can’t shoot it better, but we shot it with some consistency.

“We need the three to be effective, but we also need to produce points inside.”

Long Beach State held one brief lead, 4-2 in the first two minutes. After that, Pepperdine took over and led, 46-32, at halftime.

The Waves stretched the lead to 52-32 in the first minute of the second half.

Mike Terry

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Cal State Northridge 73, Illinois State 69 -- Mike Efevberha scored 23 of his game-high 27 points in the second half and the Matadors won their seventh consecutive game at home.

Efevberha, whose 22.6-point average ranked him 14th in the nation before the game, made seven free throws in the last 1:24 to help the Matadors (5-3) end a two-game losing streak.

Illinois State (5-3) trailed, 59-46, with 4:02 to play, but then made seven of eight three-point baskets, the last by Dana Ford with 20 second to play to tie the score, 69-69.

But Efevberha made two free throws with 17 seconds left, and Ford’s three-point shot with five seconds to play bounced off the rim to Thomas Shewmake, who grabbed it for his 12th rebound and was fouled. He made two free throws with one second remaining.

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Loyola Marymount 76, Northern Colorado 63 -- Chris Ayer scored a career-high 22 points, and Brandon Worthy had 20 to lead the host Lions.

Worthy scored nine points in a three-minute span midway through the second half as the Lions (3-6) built a 57-44 lead. He tied a career high with eight assists and had four steals.

The Bears (0-12) tied a school record dating to the 1944-45 season with 12 consecutive losses to start a season and have lost 15 in a row dating to Feb. 22.

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Colorado 96, UC Irvine 80 -- Denver native Ross Schraeder had 26 points, but the Anteaters (4-4), who hadn’t played since Dec. 3, couldn’t stay with the Buffaloes (6-1) at Boulder, Colo.

Richard Roby scored 20 points and Martane Freeman had 17 to help Colorado extend its winning streak to five games. The Buffaloes have won all seven games between the schools.

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San Diego State 66, UC Santa Barbara 54 -- Freshman Kyle Spain had a career-high 17 points and seven rebounds to help the host Aztecs (5-4) end a two-game skid.

His steal and dunk halfway through the second half sparked a 15-5 run after the Gauchos (3-4) had cut the deficit to 44-43 with 10:40 to play.

Cecil Brown led the Gauchos with 12 points, and Derek Rasp had 11.