Pepperdine Rolls Past Titans

Pepperdine’s aggressive full-court pressure was too much for Cal State Fullerton Tuesday night.

The Waves forced Fullerton into 26 turnovers and went on to a 96-63 victory at Pepperdine, avenging a loss the Waves suffered last season in Titan Gym.

The victory gives Pepperdine a 5-2 record in its first season under Coach Jan van Breda Kolff. Fullerton fell to 1-5.

It was the most decisive Pepperdine victory since the Waves defeated Oral Roberts, 116-76, in January 1993. It was the worst Fullerton loss since a 95-52 defeat at Portland early last season.

“We made their press look like they had 10 guys on the court against our five,” Titan Coach Bob Hawking said. “Their press is the same one they’ve been running all season. It’s what we watched on film and practiced on, but we didn’t handle it well.

“We lost our poise. Their press creates panic, and that’s what we did--panic.”

Pepperdine had forced an average of 25 turnovers in its previous six games, but van Breda Kolff said the Waves turned up the volume on it even more against Fullerton. It showed up in 17 Pepperdine steals.

“We thought we had better depth, and so we played even more aggressively on the press,” van Breda Kolff said. “We felt we had better players six through 12 than they did, and we wanted to force them to get into their bench as much as we could.”

Guard Tommie Prince led Pepperdine with 20 points, and junior David Lalazarian, who played at Tustin High, came off the bench to score 18. Prince was eight of 10 from the floor, and Lalazarian eight of 14. Guard Brandon Armstrong added 15 points, and Kelvin Gibbs had 11 rebounds.

Ike Harmon, the Titans’ All-Big West Conference player last season, scored only two points in the first half but managed to finish with 15. Sophomore reserve forward Josh Fischer had 13 points, his career high.

Harmon picked up his second foul with slightly more than three minutes gone in the game and didn’t return until 8 1/2 minutes remained in the first half. Harmon took only four shots in the first half.

“That’s been a constant problem for us,” Hawking said, referring to Harmon’s foul trouble this season.

The Titans, who shot only 37% from the field in the first half, trailed, 25-17, when Harmon returned to the game, but Pepperdine went on to lead, 43-27, at halftime.

Harmon didn’t get his first basket of the second half until nearly seven minutes had elapsed, and Pepperdine led by as much as 34 points with 2 1/2 minutes left in the game.

Pepperdine also dominated rebounding, 51-35, and shot 48.2% compared to 41% for the Titans.

“That rebounding advantage they had was telling too,” Hawking said. “We didn’t have many people contribute in a way where we could have won this game. It was strictly a team loss. We can’t blame this one on two or three players.”

Hawking gave Pepperdine credit for a good effort.

“They’re a good team,” Hawking said. “They’re 5-2, and they’ve played a tough schedule. But I think we’re a better team than the one that showed up for this game.”