PEPPERDINE SAVES BEST WAVES FOR LAST, CAN'T RIDE TO VICTORY COMEBACK FROM 15 DOWN FALLS SHORT IN FINAL MINUTE AGAINST FULLERTON CS FULLERTON 78, PEPPERDINE 74.

Byline: Ross Siler Staff Writer

MALIBU - This wasn't how Pepperdine's furious 15-point comeback in the final five minutes Monday night was supposed to end. Not with Cal State Fullerton's Anthony Bolton running the length of the court to slap the backboard in celebration.

Not with a winless Titans team spilling onto the floor at Firestone Fieldhouse when the buzzer sounded. Not with a 78-74 final burning their eyes on the scoreboard. This was not an ending for the Waves to enjoy.

After stumbling through most of the second half and falling behind 72-57 with 6:02 remaining, Pepperdine rallied to tie at 74 with 1:13 left, only to have its comeback bid fall apart.

``We tried playing catch-up and that's a tough game to play,'' junior forward Glen McGowan said. ``That's like playing Russian roulette, trying to come back like that. Sometimes you win. Sometimes you don't.''

Down the stretch, Pepperdine took advantage of two Fullerton offensive fouls and stole two passes as part of a 14-0 run that brought the crowd of 1,129 to its feet. McGowan converted a three-point play on a drive through the lane and the game was tied.

But that made what happened next all the more excruciating. The Waves nearly had pulled the upset at No. 24 Oklahoma State on Saturday night before falling 84-82 in the final seconds. They thought the same thing couldn't happen again.

``We shouldn't have been down in the first place,'' freshman point guard Shaun Davis said. ``We're a better team than we played tonight.''

But Fullerton (1-3) collected itself with a timeout and won a game it should have lost, then should have won, then should have lost again.

In the final minute, the Titans' Pape Sow (18 points, 8 rebounds) was fouled inside and made one of two free throws. Pepperdine then put the ball in the hands of junior guard Terrance Johnson, who finished just 2 of 11 from 3-point range.

``I've seen Terrance make plenty of big, deep jumpers and that's what they were giving us,'' Pepperdine coach Paul Westphal said. ``We had to take something like that.''

Johnson misfired from the left side, Bolton collected the rebound for Fullerton and was fouled. He hit both free throws to put the Titans ahead 77-74 with 29.4 seconds remaining.

Johnson then missed a second 3-pointer that Bobby Brown rebounded to ice the game. Brown finished with a game-high 22 points for Fullerton. Pepperdine, meanwhile, was left drained.

``You could tell guys were tired,'' said Davis, who had 11 points and four assists. ``We made our run and we really didn't have anything else.''

Pepperdine (1-3) was left to lament losing a game in which it once had an 11-point lead in the first half. The Waves looked out of sorts in the second half, however, as Fullerton switched to a prowling 2-3 zone and shot 66 percent from the field after halftime.

Alex Acker led Pepperdine with 18 points in 35 minutes. But the Waves were outrebounded (33-25) for the fourth consecutive game and lost to a Fullerton team that turned over the ball 20 times and failed to shoot a free throw in the first half.

Westphal said afterward his team had taken ``a thousand steps back'' after the near-upset of Oklahoma State. The Titans, with 10 former junior college players on their roster, were coming off an overtime loss Saturday to Sacramento State.

``We're not as good as we think we are unless we back it up,'' Westphal said. ``That team came in and outhustled us and outworked us and outrebounded us and beat us. It was just very poor on our part in every way.''

With seven minutes remaining, the cause could not have looked more hopeless for Pepperdine. Brown connected on back-to-back 3-pointers, then added two free throws to put Fullerton ahead 72-57. The rout was on.

Marvin Lea then missed a jumper at the other end for Pepperdine, which recovered the rebound and called timeout. Davis hit a 3-pointer on the restart and just like that the Waves took off on their run.

``We played with urgency the last five minutes,'' Westphal said. ``We didn't play with urgency until then. It's very discouraging.''

By and large, the Waves did a good job neutralizing Sow, a 6-foot-10 senior from Senegal who is projected to be an NBA draft pick. Sow shot 8 of 9 from the field but had six turnovers and was in foul trouble for much of the night.

Ross Siler, [phone]

ross.siler(at)dailynews.com

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