Malibu, Calif. • Elijah Bryant missed a free throw that probably would have won the game for BYU in regulation.
The Cougars’ best player made sure he didn’t let that happen again.
Bryant scored nine of his game-high 25 points in the five-minute extra session and BYU escaped Firestone Fieldhouse with a 75-70 win over last-place Pepperdine.
“My team was looking for someone to step up and I was able to do it,” Bryant said.
It was BYU’s first win on Pepperdine’s floor since 2013, snapping a four-game losing skid in Malibu.
“It was a hard-fought game,” said BYU’s Dalton Nixon. “We are all just happy we found a way to win the game.”
It wasn’t easy.
The last-place Waves (4-23, 1-14 WCC) got a layup from Coleby Ross to force overtime with eight seconds remaining and took a quick lead in overtime, but couldn’t hold it. Tuesday, Pepperdine announced that it would not renew seven-year coach Marty Wilson’s contract, and the Waves played inspired basketball. Then again, they seemingly always do here against BYU.
“They were playing really loose, I know that,” BYU coach Dave Rose said.
BYU improved to 21-7 overall, 10-5 in West Coast Conference play and will travel to San Diego on Saturday for a showdown with the much-improved Toreros.
The Cougars can thank Bryant that they are still alone in third place in the WCC. His 3-point play with 55 seconds remaining in overtime gave the Cougars their first lead in OT, and he sealed it with a bucket with 12 seconds left and two more free throws with 2.6 seconds left after Pepperdine missed a 3-pointer in the final 10 seconds.
“The ball in Eli’s hands is always a good thing for us down the stretch,” Nixon said.
Trailing by two in overtime, the Cougars got a jump hook from Luke Worthington, who finished with four points.
Yoeli Childs added 18, but went to the floor grasping his left knee early in the overtime period. He returned to the game and also had six rebounds.
“He kinda twisted his knee when he came down awkwardly,” Rose said.
However, the big sophomore told the coach while trainers were attending to him that he was probably going to be OK. His re-entrance into the game gave the Cougars an emotional lift.
Pepperdine was led by Trae Berhow, who had 12 points before fouling out.
Trailing by two at halftime, the Cougars opened the second half on a 5-0 run to regain what was once a nine-point lead. But they couldn’t sustain the rare moment of crisp offensive play, and lost the lead again.
The advantage swung several times from there before Jahshire Hardnett hit a 3-pointer with about five minutes remaining to give the Cougars a 57-53 lead. But Pepperdine rallied again, forcing overtime on Ross’ layup after Bryant missed a free throw with 16 seconds remaining.
Hardnett drove hard to the basket after Ross’ field goal, but his shot went awry as the Cougars screamed for a foul from their bench, and BYU was in its second-straight overtime game after beating San Francisco 75-73 last Saturday.
TJ Haws made two free throws with 50 seconds left in regulation to give the Cougars a 63-62 lead, but otherwise struggled to find his rhythm. He finished with just five points on 1-of-7 shooting.
Both teams made six 3-pointers, but Pepperdine attempted two more shots from beyond the arc.
Pulled early in favor of McKay Cannon after he missed a couple 3-pointers, Hardnett finished with nine points and five rebounds. Nixon added eight off BYU’s bench, which was outscored 21-14 by Pepperdine’s bench.
“We weren’t ourselves offensively, but I thought defensively we guarded really well and rebounded really well,” Rose said, expressing sympathy for Wilson, whom he said has endured more than his share of close losses this season.
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