Jett Raines, Damontas Sabonis and the #WCCHoops Slate

Compiled by Curran McCauley
The West Coast Conference ended its first full month of action with an action-packed Saturday that included a milestone performance in Provo, an overtime thriller in Stockton, an upset in Moraga, a close win for San Diego at home and No. 3 Gonzaga routing Memphis in a rare January non-conference tilt. Here’s a closer look at all the WCC action on the final day of January.

No. 3 Gonzaga 82 Memphis 64
Gonzaga and Memphis have become regular non-conference foes, as this was the ninth game in the current series. Last year Gonzaga went into the FedEx Forum in Memphis and lost to the Tigers. The return game in Spokane, played for the first time at the Kennel, was a much different story. Damontas Sabonis posted his second straight double-double (13 pts, 11 rebs) while Prezemek Karnowski, Kyle Wiltjer, Kevin Pangos and Gary Bell Jr. all scored in double figures for the Zags in a blowout.

Pepperdine 67 Saint Mary’s 62
The Waves won in Moraga for the first time since 2007, ending a 17-game losing skid against the Gaels. Pepperdine grabbed the road victory thanks in part to double-digit scoring from Jett Raines, Amadi Udenyi and Lamond Murray Jr. in addition to a double-double from Stacy Davis, who had ten points and ten rebounds. The game was tied 59-59 with 2:38 remaining in regulation, but the Waves finished the game on an 8-3 run. Pepperdine committed a season-low six turnovers. For Saint Mary’s, Brad Waldow had a game-high 25 points but went just 7-14 from the free throw line.

BYU 78 Santa Clara 57
Despite Kyle Collinsworth sitting out due to multiple injuries, Tyler Haws moved into sole possession of second place on the all-time BYU career scoring leaderboard as the Cougars easily handled the Broncos in Provo. Jared Brownridge paced Santa Clara with 16 points, while Andrew Papenfus played for the first time since offseason surgery to remove a benign brain tumor.

San Diego 77 San Francisco 69
The Toreros had four scorers in double figures, led by Johnny Dee who had a game high 20 points. USD started the contest on a 16-6 run but USF took a lead into the halftime break. After shooting 63.6 percent in the first, San Diego held the Dons to just 37.5 shooting in the second period of action en route to the victory at home.

Loyola Marymount 76 Pacific 71
The Lions erased an 11-point Tigers lead with nine minutes to play to force overtime. LMU didn’t miss from the field in OT, sealing a road victory for the visitors, who wrapped up their second trip to Northern California in as many weeks. Marin Mornar had a double-double for the third time in the last six games (23 pts, 11 rebs) to pace LMU while Evan Payne came off the bench to provide 23 points and 7 rebounds. TJ Wallace had 18 points in a losing effort for Pacific.

 They Said It
“The guys are pumped up and it felt great. We’ve been knocking on the door for a while. It was a great win, especially to do this on the road. We executed and we took care of the ball.”  – Pepperdine Head Coach Marty Wilson