Feb. 28, 2003

Box Score

Malibu, CA - The Saint Mary's men's basketball team suffered a 72-67 loss to the Pepperdine Waves in a West Coast Conference game from the Firestone Fieldhouse in Malibu, CA. Daniel Kickert paced the Gaels with a game-high 24 points, matching his career and season high. With the loss SMC falls to 12-14 overall and 5-8 in WCC play. Pepperdine improves to 14-11 overall and 7-6 in conference action.

With Saint Mary's trailing 65-62, Samuel Saint-Jean hit a three to bring the Gaels within one point. On the next Waves possession, Terrance Johnson hit a three to give Pepperdine a 68-64 lead with two-minutes remaining in the game. Adam Caporn converted a layin with eight seconds remaining on the clock, Johnson hit two free throws with seven seconds on the clock to ice the game for the Waves. Johnson scored the final eight points for the Waves.

Enroute to his game-high 24 points, Kickert's scored 17 in the second half to help bring the Gaels within one-point. He finished the game shooting 9-for-12 from the floor, which included 4-for-4 from behind the arc. The four made threes is also a career-best for Kickert. Frederic Adjiwanou also matched his career-high with 20 points for the Gaels and he added seven rebounds. Adjiwanou was 7-of-8 from the field and 6-for-11 from the foul line. Jonathan Sanders led SMC on the boards with eight rebounds.

Pepperdine opened the game scoring six of the first seven points in the game. The Gaels would respond with a 14-3 to take a 15-9 lead six minutes into the game. Adjiwanou scored eight points in the run for the Gaels.

Pepperdine regained the lead at the 7:24 mark of the half following back-to-back dunks by Terrance Johnson. The second was a lob from Boomer Brazzle, and the ensuing free throw by Johnson gave the Waves a 22-21 lead.

After the Gaels regained the lead on a basket by Adjiwanou, Pepperdine used a 15-4 run over the final seven minutes of the first half to lead 36-27 at the intermission.

The second half opened with the Waves opening its lead to 11 points (40-29) one-minute into the period. Kickert scored the next 11 points for the Gaels, as they cut the lead to 42-37 with 15:48 remaining. Pepperdine opened its lead to 47-37 one-minute late, before the Gaels began to make a comeback. Saint Mary's used a 15-6 run over the next five minutes to cut the lead to 53-52 with 9:23 remaining.

The Gaels shot 57.9 percent from the floor as they hit on 23-of-48 attempts. SMC hit 8-of-15 attempts from beyond the arc, but struggled from the free throw line as it hit 13-of-23 shots from the line. Pepperdine shot 46.3 percent against the Gaels, hitting on 25-of-54 shots from the floor.

Saint Mary's will close the 2002-03 regular season when they play Loyola Marymount on Saturday. Tip-off is scheduled for 7:05 PM in Gersten Pavilion in Los Angeles, CA.