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EUGENE, Ore. -- Western Michigan hit 7-of-8 free throws in the final 1:15 to defeat Pepperdine, 70-65, in game three of the World Vision Invitational at McArthur Court on Sunday night.
The Broncos trailed by one after the Waves' (0-2) Daniel Johnson hit a three-pointer with 1:38 remaining, 64-63. The Broncos got the ball down low to Joe Reitz on the following possession, but he missed a layup. Reitz, however, got his own rebound and was fouled. He hit both free throws to give the lead back to the Brown & Gold, 65-64.
The Waves missed a three-pointer on the next possession and Reitz was fouled going for the rebound. He hit the first free throw, but missed the second. Senior swingman Derek Fracalossi corralled the offensive board for the Broncos (1-1) and was fouled. He hit both free throws to put WMU up four, 68-64. Pepperdine made one free throw to cut the lead back to a single possession, but David Kool was fouled and hit two freebies to give WMU the final five-point cushion.
Reitz led WMU with his 20th career double-double with 14 points and 15 rebounds. Andre Ricks added 14 points, all in the second half, Derek Drews scored 11 points and sophomore Donald Lawson chipped in a career-high 10 points.
Reitz scored twice inside and Drews knocked down the first of his three three-pointers to stake WMU to an early 7-0 lead. Pepperdine cut its deficit to one, 13-12, before the Broncos used another 7-0 run behind two more buckets from Reitz and a Kool three-pointer to go up by eight, 20-12.
Drews hit another three-pointer with 4:15 to give the Broncos their largest lead, 29-17. Another Drews jumper moments later kept WMU up by 12, 34-22, with 1:16 to go. Pepperdine answered with the next four points to trail by eight at halftime, 34-26.
The Waves started the second half with the first five points, before a Lawson tip-in halted the run. The rest of Lawson's teammates were cold from the field as Pepperdine eventually tied the game at 38. Lawson converted a layup on the next time down court to keep WMU in front.
The two teams combined for nine missed shots over the next two minutes and then Ricks took over. Ricks canned a jumper with 12:45 to put WMU up three, but Pepperdine scored to keep it a one-point game, 42-41. Ricks then hit three consecutive three-pointers to help the Broncos push their lead back up to six, 51-45.
The Waves came right back and cut the lead to two, but Kool and Derek Fracalossi hit back-to-back buckets to keep WMU up six, 55-49, with 7:18 to go. Pepperdine answered with six straight to even the score before Ricks nailed his fourth three-pointer to keep WMU on top, 58-55.
Pepperdine hung around and took its first lead of the game on Jason Walberg's three-pointer, 61-60, with 2:50 remaining. The Broncos turned the ball over, but Johnson missed two free throws to keep WMU behind by only one. Drews converted from behind the arc to put WMU back on top, 63-61, with 1:58 to go before Johnson hit his three-pointer to set up the game's final moments.
The Broncos shot just 38.1 percent (24-63), but connected on 10-of-22 three-pointers (.455). Pepperdine, meanwhile, hit only 7-of-38 three-pointers (.184) and 30.9 percent overall (21-68). The Broncos outrebounded Pepperdine, 49-43, but 19 offensive rebounds by the Waves led to a 23-15 advantage in second-chance points.
WMU also turned the ball over 21 times leading to 20 Pepperdine points. The Waves only turned the ball over 13 times, but WMU was efficient with 18 points off turnovers.
Johnson led Pepperdine with 15 points.
