BENCH BUOYS WAVES : PEPPERDINE 78 FRESNO ST. 71.

Byline: Howard Beck Daily News Staff Writer

The element that has long eluded coach Lorenzo Romar's Pepperdine Waves has suddenly become their greatest strength. For the first time in Romar's three seasons, the Waves are as deep as the neighboring Pacific Ocean.

Bench depth kept the Waves undefeated Thursday night, as the reserve tandem of Robert Fomby and Marc McDowell sparked a second-half scoring surge to hold off Fresno State 78-71 at Firestone Fieldhouse.

McDowell scored 12 of his team-leading 16 points in the second half, and Fomby scored nine of his 12 points in the period to push the Waves to a 3-0 record. All the more impressive considering Pepperdine knocked off a talented Fresno team despite an off night from Jelani Gardner (10 points).

``In our three victories, our bench has been phenomenal,'' Romar said. ``It's so good to replace (starters) with guys that give you a lift. They don't drop off. And that's one thing we've not had here for the last two years.''

Problem solved.

Five Waves scored in double figures Thursday, with 15 points from Kelvin Gibbs and 10 from Nick Sheppard. But Gibbs, Gardner and Sheppard did most of their damage in the first half, when the Waves took a 39-32 lead, leaving it up to the second-stringers to hold on the rest of the way.

``I think that's just feeding off the other players, off everybody's intensity,'' Fomby said of his offensive outburst. ``I wanted to play hard, and that's all I want to do every time I come out.''

He also did some fancy feeding, dishing to McDowell for a trio of baskets, including an assist on a 3-pointer that pushed the lead to a commanding 68-51 with 6:50 remaining.

Fresno seemed primed to stay undefeated itself, taking an early 8-0 lead and holding the advantage for the first 13 minutes of the game.

But a 19-11 run by the Waves tied the game at 19 with 7:22 left and the Bulldogs fell back on their heels. They held their last lead at 30-27 with 4:05 remaining, then watched the Waves mount a 12-2 run heading into halftime.

Fresno star Courtney Alexander scored a team-high 16 but missed 9 of 15 shots and had six turnovers while a cadre of NBA scouts looked on. Credit Waves guard Tommie Prince with a nice bit of defense.

``We had no intensity. None,'' groused Fresno coach Jerry Tarkanian, whose team fell to 2-1. ``I thought at halftime we'd come out in the second half and get desperate.''

``Even when we got behind, we didn't play with intensity,'' Tarkanian added.

``They (the Waves) played very well. But we obviously made them play well.''