MALIBU, Calif. – Pepperdine's Colbey Ross hit a game-winning three-pointer as time expired, dealing San Diego a 72-69 road loss on Thursday at the Firestone Fieldhouse.
 
After a missed three-point attempt by the Toreros (9-18, 2-10 WCC) with five seconds left in the game, the Waves (14-12, 7-5 WCC) ran the length of the court to set up Ross' game-deciding attempt from the top of the key. The Waves made four three-pointers all night, with three of them by Ross and two occurring in the final three minutes.
 
The Toreros led for 34 of the game's 40 minutes and shot 43% from the field. However, the Waves shot 50%, including a 51.6% clip in the second half. USD was 10-of-31 (32.3%) in the final 20 minutes.
 
Braun Hartfield scored 26 points, on 66.7% shooting (10-of-15), to lead the Toreros offensively. The redshirt junior, who fell one point shy of his career-high, took the missed long-range attempt in the final seconds but was 5-of-8 from long distance for the entire game.
 
USD led for the first 17+ minutes of the second half until a three-pointer by Pepperdine's Sedrick Altman tied the game at 65-65. The two sides traded baskets before Hartfield made a contested left-handed lay-up at the 2:01 mark to give the Toreros a 69-67 lead.
 
After Skylar Chavez missed the second of his two free throws to keep the Toreros ahead 69-68, both sides combined to miss their next four shots, including a quick jumper along the baseline by Joey Calcaterra that produced a rebound attempt and over-the-back foul by Yauhen Massalski to send the Waves to the line with 33 seconds left. Pepperdine's Kameron Edwards made the first of his two free throws to tie the game and set up Hartfield's missed game-winning attempt.
 
The Toreros controlled for a majority of the game, including taking a 10-point lead into halftime thanks to an offense that shot 55.6% (15-of-27) from the field in the first 20 minutes. Hartfield and Finn Sullivan each tallied 13 points in the half and shot a combined 9-of-12. Hartfield was 4-of-5 from three (5-of-6 FG).
 
Defensively, USD held Pepperdine 0-fer on its last four attempts in the first half, but the Waves still managed to go 13-of-27 (48.1%) from the field.
 
In the second half, USD led by as much as 12 but started 3-of-12 from the field. Pepperdine began its climb back into the game starting with a three-pointer by Ross at the 10:31 mark to cut the score to 57-51. The trey by Ross was in the midst of seven straight shots made by the Waves, a run that was capped when Victor Ohia Obioha slammed down a dunk to cut the Torero advantage to 60-59 with 7:32 remaining.
 
The Toreros return home for their next game, a Saturday night contest against BYU at 7 p.m. in the Jenny Craig Pavilion.
 
 
NOTES
Hartfield has scored 20+ points in three of the last four games and six times this season.
 
In the last four games, Hartfield is averaging 23.5 points.
 
Sullivan finished with 16 points on 5-of-10 shooting. The 16 points were his second-highest total this season.
 
The 10 three-pointers made by the Toreros were their most since January 18 at Portland.
 
USD has lost four straight to Pepperdine.
 
The Toreros crossed the 40-point threshold in the first half for the third time this season thanks to an offense that shot 55.6% from the field and pulled in five offensive rebounds to help it hold a plus-four rebounding margin (16-12).