PEPPERDINE NO PUSHOVER; NO. 2 KANSAS SURVIVES SECOND-HALF SCARE : KANSAS 96 PEPPERDINE 83.

All the work Kansas did to build an 18-point halftime lead was shot to pieces in eight minutes by Pepperdine. Specifically, the Waves' Gerald Brown.

Eventually, Raef LaFrentz and Paul Pierce, who scored 23 points apiece Thursday night, righted No. 2 Kansas before it held off Pepperdince for a 96-83 win.

LaFrentz scored 14 points and grabbed eight rebounds in the first half as Kansas (12-1) took a comfortable 53-35 halftime lead over the Waves (5-4).

Brown, who made 10 of 12 shots in the first eight minutes of the second half to close within 64-58, finished with a game-high 35 points. He was 14 of 19 from the field, including 5 of 7 from 3-point range.

``Luckily, the shots were falling for me and my teammates kept giving me the ball,'' Brown said.

Brown opened the half with two quick baskets, and after Billy Thomas scored for Kansas, Brown made consecutive 3-pointers over Ryan Robertson. Brown scored 14 points in the span while Kansas committed seven turnovers.

``For some reason we thought the game was over,'' Kansas coach Roy Williams said. ``For the first eight minutes we were terrible.''

Pierce kept the Jayhawks ahead by scoring their next nine points after Thomas' basket. The Waves then committed three turnovers and two fouls while Kansas scored on a Robertson jumper, a 3-pointer by Thomas and another jumper by Nick Bradford to make it 71-58.

The Jayhawks continued the run by outscoring the Waves 13-4 to open an 84-62 lead with 7:10 left.

``Our guys came out and decided we really wanted to scrap, but our shots wouldn't go down except for Gerald Brown,'' said Pepperdine coach Lorenzo Romar.

The Jayhawks were outrebounded by the smaller Waves, 38-36, the first time this season that Kansas has been outrebounded.

``Their 6-6 and 6-7 guys were quicker to the ball,'' Williams said.

Pierce scored 16 points in the second half and LaFrentz finished 12 rebounds. Bradford, a sophomore making just his second career start, scored 10 points and had a career-high seven assists along with four rebounds and three steals.

``Nick did give us a lift, his passing especially, and he has a knack for the ball defensively,'' Williams said.

Both teams started hot as Kansas made 14 of its first 18 shots and Pepperdine hit 10 of its first 17.

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2 Photos

Photo: (1) Kansas' Paul Pierce reacts to a foul by Pepperdine's Gerald Brown in the first half. Pierce scored 23; Brown had 35.

(2) Waves guard Robert Fromby, right, tries to pass around Jayhawks defender Billy Thomas.

Associated Press