SACRAMENTO, Calif. — What could have been the first thriller of the 2002 NCAA Tournament turned into another blowout as Pepperdine went cold down the stretch and Wake Forest capitalized for a 83-74 win
Thursday morning.
Wake Forest will meet Oregon on Saturday in the second round.
The Demon Deacons were led by Craig Dawson, who scored 19 points and Darius Songaila, who notched 18.
The Deacs had several chances to put the Waves away but let Pepperdine back into the game several times. But given one last chance to bury the Waves late, Wake Forest took advantage.
“We had a great start to the game, a less than scintillating middle and a very gratifying finish,” Wake Forest coach Skip Prosser said. “I thought in the last couple of minutes, we tightened up our execution and the kids did a whale of a job.”
Pepperdine held its only lead of the game midway through the second half, when Wave guard Devin Montgomery scored a layup to put Pepperdine ahead 52-50.
Wake Forest battled back and got the lead to seven points with 7:48 left. But Pepperdine went on a 7-2 run to pull the score to 70-68 with 3:55 remaining.
That’s when Pepperdine went cold, as the Waves scored just four points in the final three minutes.
“We had a chance in the last five minutes,” Pepperdine coach Paul Westphal said. “They made shots and we didn’t.”
Wake Forest got off to an early lead in the first half and scored the game’s first nine points.
The Demon Deacons led 19-8 when the Waves rattled off nine points in three possessions — two three-pointers from Montgomery and a three-point play from Glen McGowan.
“We came out a little tentative for the first five minutes, but then we got in our groove and stayed with them.”
After Wake Forest got the back to nine points, Pepperdine ended the first half on another run, outscoring the Deacons 12-6 down the stretch to make the score 38-35 at the half.