Pepperdine 86, Montana 69

Wednesday December 18, 2002

By JANIE McCAULEY
AP Sports Writer

STANFORD, Calif. (AP) It would have been a bigger deal if Pepperdine had gotten the opportunity to play nationally ranked Stanford for the first time.

Still, the Waves are happy to be going home with some hardware.

Freshman David Patten scored a career-high 19 points to lead five players in double figures as Pepperdine defeated Montana 86-69 in the championship of the Stanford Invitational on Tuesday.

It was Patten's first time scoring in double digits.

``I guess I picked a good time to have my breakout game,'' the 6-foot-8 Patten said. ``It's by far the best game I've ever had.''

Boomer Brazzle added 12 points and a career-high 14 rebounds for the Waves (5-3), who won for the fifth time in six games. Jimmy Miggins had 17 points and Terrance Johnson and Mike Westphal each had 11.

The Grizzlies (4-7) had a difficult time finding any offensive rhythm a day after shooting 47 percent and committing only nine turnovers against Stanford.

Montana shocked the No. 17 Cardinal 70-68 in Monday night's first round on a last-second 3-pointer by David Bell.

Stanford lost the first round of its own tournament for the first time in 12 years, and the Cardinal had won the past seven titles. Pepperdine is the only team in the West Coast Conference that Stanford has never played.

``Beating Montana is still a first-class program and it's a big step for us because we're a small school,'' Brazzle said.

Bell scored 21 points, hitting 6-of-12 3-pointers. But the Grizzlies were only 10-for-33 from long range.

Montana pulled within 10 points with 10:30 left on a basket by Mike Chavez, but couldn't get any closer as Pepperdine shot 50.7 percent for the game.

``Pepperdine came out and controlled the tempo from the very beginning,'' Montana coach Pat Kennedy said. ``They ran us up and down the court pretty well and their press was very hard to beat.''

The Waves hit 51.2 percent of their shots in the first half and had several powerful dunks, including one by Johnson in the final second of the half that gave his team a 53-38 halftime lead. It was the best half the team has played this season.

The Waves' defense held Bell in check for the first half, allowing them to take the big lead.

``Bell's the kind of player who's going to get his points no matter what,'' Patten said. ``We're lucky nobody else on their team got hot.''

Bell had 24 points and connected on 6-of-8 3-pointers in Monday's win, and finished 12-for-20 from long range in the two games.

``We just came out flat and we couldn't get into the rhythm of this game at all after beating Stanford last night,'' he said.

Pepperdine has had a productive non-conference schedule despite its depleted lineup. The Waves suited just nine players.

Starting center Will Kimble's career ended late last month because of a heart condition, which was diagnosed after the junior collapsed during a practice.

The Waves are also missing starting guard Devin Montgomery, who has a broken thumb and sat for the fourth straight game, and reserve forward Glen McGowan. McGowan was sidelined for Pepperdine's first five games after knee surgery, played in a loss to Oregon last Saturday, and now is out indefinitely with a blood clot in his chest area.

(Copyright 2002 by The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.)