Waves Make 13 Threes to Shut Down CU, 78-72

BOULDER, Colo. (AP) -Chase Griffin had 18 points and nine rebounds and Marvin Lea scored all of his 17 points in the second half to lead Pepperdine to a 78-72 victory over Colorado Monday night.

Lea scored nine of his points from the free throw line as Pepperdine (2-6) ended a four-game losing streak. Tomas Pranchiliauskas scored 15 points on five 3-pointers.

Richard Roby had a season-high 32 points for Colorado (3-5), while Xavier Silas had 19 points and Dominique Coleman had his first career double-double with 12 points and 10 rebounds.

Kingsley Costain gave Pepperdine its first lead, 41-38, with a 3-pointer three minutes into the second half and moments later 3-pointers by Costain and Gregg Barlow extended it to 47-41. Colorado, which had only Roby's 3-pointer and six field goals in the first 10 minutes of the second half, was behind 59-51 when Roby's two free throws began an 11-4 run that cut it to 63-62 with 5:24 remaining.

But the Buffaloes failed to score on their next five possessions and Chase Griffin's 3-pointer keyed a mini 5-0 run to make it 69-62. Roby closed the gap to 74-69 with a 3-pointer with 26 seconds left. Costain and Lea sealed the game with two free throws each.

Roby had five points before Pepperdine attempted a shot and the Buffaloes had a 25-17 lead after Coleman's 3-pointer with 12:14. Two 3-pointers by Pranchiliauskas got Pepperdine to within 25-23 with 10:58 left, but Pepperdine connected on only 3-of-17 shots the rest of the half and trailed 35-31 at halftime.

"It's a work in progress," said head coach Ricardo Patton.  "We've got guys that put their value solely on their offense and our defense is really suffering. We're not a very good defensive team right now."

Colorado will take on in-state Rivals, the Colorado State Rams on this Saturday at 7pm at the Coors Events Center.

Colorado/Pepperdine Game Notes

-          Pepperdine went on a 16-6 run to start the 2nd half before Silas' reverse layout (Pepp: 47, CU 43)

-          The Waves have led since 16:53 of the second half, their first lead of the game

-          Pepperdine made the 13 3-pointers tying Air Force this season

-          CU trailed with two minutes to remaining, now 0-5 this season

-          CU started with the same starting lineup for the second straight game (Williams, Coleman, Silas, Roby, Jackson-Wilson)

-     CU falls to 3-2 this season after leading at halftime

-     CU continues their downward spin losing for the fifth time in eight games (the 1988-89 season CU went 5-13).

-     CU third loss in the nonconference season at home, firs time since the 1995-96 they have lost three at home

-          Roby scored the games first five points (first 28 seconds of the game)

-          CU jumped out 25-17 during the first 7:30 of the game (12 scored by Silas, 7 by Roby, Bay 3-pointer, Coleman made 3-pointer

-          12-2 lead first two and half minutes of the game (Silas: 7 pts, Roby, 5 pts);  Pepperdine followed with a 12-2 run of their own

-          Richard Roby moved into 18th place on the school's all-time scoring list with 1135 points

-          Roby recorded his 20th career 20-point game (32 points tonight, one point shy of a career of 33 at Missouri, Jan. 14, 2006

-          Roby's fourth career 32 point game; he has scored 20 points fourth times this season, CU is 3-1

-          three times this season when Richard Roby shoots 20 times in a game, he scores 20 points AND CU wins. Over his career, CU is 5-2 in this trend. Tonight he lost as well as in his freshman season at Texas Tech.

-     Dominique Coleman recorded his first career double-double tonight 12 points, 10 rebounds

Tonight's seven first half blocked shots would qualify for second-most in an entire game this season (12 vs. Northern Colorado.) Colorado finished the game with 10 blocks.

-     Both teams went scoreless toward the end of the first half 6:33 of the first half and beginning of the 2nd half (Pepperdine last 4:58, scored with 10 seconds left

-          Xavier Silas notched a career-best with 19 points (14 in the first half); he scored 17 pts. vs. Northern Colorado

-          Dwight Thorne failed to make a 3-pointer tonight continuing his season slump (0-for-15)

- The Buffs have won 17 of their last 21 games at home against non-conference opponents (losses: Pepperdine, Wyoming, Air Force and Old Dominion in the NIT last season)