The men’s basketball team made its second trip to California Saturday evening and suffered its first loss to Pepperdine by a score of 77-62.
Pepperdine jumped out to a quick 10-point lead eight minutes into the game with the score being 21-10. The Waves kept a double-digit lead for most of the first half and went into halftime up 42-31.
ACU showed life, however, starting the second half 10-2 run in the first four minutes to come within three.
The Waves pushed their lead back to double-digits after ten minutes of the second half though, and held a vice grip on the game as they sailed to the eventual victory.
With its first loss of the season, ACU is now 7-1 overall, while Pepperdine improves to 5-2.
Sophomore guard Colbey Ross continued his productive season for Pepperdine nearly earning a triple-double with 15 points, nine rebounds and eight assists. Freshman forward Kessler Edwards led the Waves in scoring with 19 points.
Senior forward Jaren Lewis carried a heavy workload in the game playing 34 minutes. He came away with 15 points, six rebounds and four assists. Jaylen Franklin, senior guard, also played 34 minutes and scored 12 points while adding eight assists and seven rebounds.
The Wildcats struggled shooting the ball as they hit 25 of 62 shots (40.3 percent) from the field. They also fell short from the three-point line converting four of 18 attempts (22.2 percent).
ACU will now return home to host Campbell University who holds the nation’s Div. I leading scorer in Chris Clemons (32.1 PPG). The game will begin at 7 p.m. in Moody coliseum.
