PEPPERDINE NOTEBOOK: DON'T COUNT OUT THE WAVES.

Byline: Vincent Bonsignore Staff Writer

MALIBU - Now that a destination and opponent have been determined for the Pepperdine men's basketball team, Monday was a chance to start zeroing in on the first round of the NCAA Tournament.

The Waves, seeded 10th in the Midwest Region, open on Thursday at 11:45 a.m. against Wake Forest (20-12) at Arco Arena in Sacramento. They had a crisp workout that lasted just over two hours Monday morning and will practice once more today before traveling to Sacramento.

``It was a good practice, the guys are starting to get focused,'' said Pepperdine (22-8) coach Paul Westphal. ``We're looking forward to going up north and hopefully winning a couple of games.''

To a man, the Waves view their matchup with Wake Forest as a chance to shed light on the West Coast Conference, a mid-major league overshadowed by the bigger Pac-10. To do so, they'll have to solve the Demon Deacons' high- scoring offense, which features senior center Darius Songaila (17.8 points, 8.1 rebounds), junior forward Josh Howard (14.5 points, 8.1 rebounds) and senior guard Craig Dawson, who is averaging 11.9 points per game.

Wake Forest finished fourth in the ACC and lost to Duke in the ACC Tournament semifinals, its 13th consecutive loss to the Blue Devils.

``We know that, playing in the ACC, they've got guys that can play the game,'' Pepperdine forward Glen McGowan said. ``But we're confident we can go up there and compete.''

--Not much experience: Pepperdine last appeared in the tournament two years ago, but only senior guard Craig Lewis was a main contributor on that team. The other holdovers are junior Boomer Brazzle and senior Cedric Suitt, both of whom played sparingly in 2000.

Nevertheless, Pepperdine believes the schedule it played this year - which was ranked among the 10 toughest in the country - sufficiently prepared them for Wake Forest.

``We matured a lot as the season went on because of the things we went through, playing such a difficult schedule and going head to head with Gonzaga in our conference race,'' forward Jimmy Miggins said. ``We're ready to take our game to another level and that's what the tournament is all about.''

--Raining 3s: It's not that Pepperdine lives and dies with the 3-point shot, but clearly it's a big part of its game, especially in the case of guards Devin Montgomery, Terrance Johnson and Craig Lewis.

Johnson, a redshirt freshman, leads the team with 61 3s, hitting .446 percent (60 of 171), and Lewis is next with 51 in 135 tries (.378). Montgomery is the most proficient, sinking .506 percent on 41 of 81.

``There's a big difference between shooting 30 percent and 50 percent,'' Pepperdine coach Paul Westphal said. ``When he's making his 3-pointers, it really enables us to do a lot of different things.''