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Malibu, Calif. • Even when Pepperdine is battling through a down season filled with injuries to key players, the Waves can still beat BYU at Firestone Fieldhouse.
They proved that again on Thursday night in front of a sparse crowd at the tiny gymnasium on their scenic campus overlooking the Pacific Ocean, routing the Cougars 99-83 to avenge a 29-point loss at the Marriott Center last month.
Dealing with early foul trouble that caused them to fall behind by as many as 11 points in the first half and showing little interest in playing defense for most of the contest, the Cougars lost for the fourth-straight time in Malibu and fell to 8-5 in WCC play, 17-9 overall.
Pepperdine, which lost by 45 points here to No. 1 Gonzaga on Jan. 28, improved to 8-17 and 4-9 in league play.
BYU started well enough, and led 11-9 three minutes into the game.
The Waves went on an 11-0 run to take control, and never relinquished the lead after that.
Nick Emery led BYU with 19 points and Eric Mika scored 18 before fouling out with three minutes, 16 seconds remaining, the second-straight time the Cougars' center has fouled out at Pepperdine, dating back to the 2013-14 season.
Lamond Murray Jr. led Pepperdine with 30 points to increase his lead over Mika in the WCC scoring race.
The Cougars never threatened to win, but did cut the big deficit to nine with a 10-2 run midway through the second half.
But they went five straight possessions without scoring, and could never stop the red-hot Waves. Pepperdine shot 58 percent from the field and was 8 of 15 from 3-point range.
The Cougars gave up 52 points in the first half to a team that was averaging 69 points a game and fell behind by nine at the break.
The Waves shot 59 percent from the field and 50 percent (5 of 10) from 3-point range in the first half when the game got away from the Cougars.
BYU played reasonably well on offense, shooting 47 percent, but committed 10 first-half turnovers and played with no fire or aggression on defense.
Foul trouble also took the Cougars out of the first half.
Mika made a 3-point play early, but picked up his second foul midway through the half and spent the final 9:34 on the bench.
He was joined there by Yoeli Childs, who was whistled for two fouls in the first five minutes.
The Cougars gambled and sent Childs back in later in the half, but he picked up a third foul after scoring on consecutive possessions. Childs had just six points in 16 minutes.
It was that kind of night for the Cougars.
Despite the early struggles, they made a run late in the half and cut the deficit to 44-40 on an Emery 3-pointer with 3:15 remaining until intermission.
But they went three straight possessions without scoring, and Pepperdine pushed the lead back to double digits.
Emery seemingly scored with 1:16 left before halftime, but the bucket was wiped away as officials called an offensive foul.
Emery and Bryant had 12 points apiece in the first half, and big man Payton Dastrup made a rare appearance and scored five points, including a 3-pointer, the third of his career.
Bryant finished with 15.
Mika had just three points in the first half in just seven minutes of court time.
The Cougars roared out of the locker room in the second half, cutting the deficit to 54-50 in the first two minutes. But they went four minutes without a field goal, while allowing the Waves to score on nine straight possessions and the home team cruised to the upset win.
The Cougars play at San Francisco on Saturday.
Twitter: @drewjay —
Storylines
R The Waves make 8 of 15 3-point attempts and bury the Cougars for the fourth-straight time at Firestone Fieldhouse.
• Lamond Murray Jr. leads all scorers with 30 points for Pepperdine.
• Nick Emery leads BYU with 19 and Eric Mika adds 18 before fouling out.