LAS VEGAS — Behind some déjà vu-inducing, last-second heroics from Wayne McKinney III, five-seed San Diego men's basketball (18-14, 7-9 WCC) on Friday night beat eight-seed Pepperdine (13-20, 5-11 WCC) 57-52 at the Orleans Arena, advancing to the third round of the 2024 Credit Union 1 West Coast Conference Tournament after the junior guard drained a clutch go-ahead three with just 3.6 seconds remaining in regulation.

McKinney III, a graduate of nearby Coronado High School, took the ball with the score tied at 52-52, the shot clock off, and 22.7 seconds left in the second half. He dribbled the clock down to eight seconds before passing to junior forward Steven Jamerson II, who held the ball for six tenths of a second then lobbed it back to him on the wing in front of the Torero bench. With 3.6 remaining, McKinney III took his shot from the same spot: a high-arcing three over Pepperdine guard Ethan Anderson that hit nothing but net on its way in and gave Toreros a 55-52 lead with 1.6 to go. The Waves' Jevon Porter inbounded the ball with a desperate heave down the court, but McKinney III was already there to intercept it and got fouled as he did so. After he made the ensuing free throws, USD had earned itself a thrilling 57-52 victory over Pepperdine, and had beaten the Waves on a last-second shot from McKinney III for a second time in 2023-2024.

PJ Hayes paced the Toreros with 15 points on Friday, shooting 50% from the field while making two of his five three-point attempts on the evening. Steven Jamerson III added a team-best 13 boards as USD out-rebounded the Waves by a 40-36 margin and led them 11-8 in second-chance scoring.

HOW IT HAPPENED

• Pepperdine struck first on Friday night and was ahead by an early 6-4 margin, but after Kevin Patton Jr. made a layup and Hayes turned a Deven Dahlke turnover into a fastbreak bucket, San Diego was up 8-6.
• USD didn't trail again in the first half and continued to build its advantage as the opening frame progressed, eventually taking a game-high 14-point, 27-13 lead when Patton Jr. made a deep three with 5:39 to go.  
• The Waves heated up as the first half wound down, and were within six at the 2:24 mark before San Diego recovered and took a 34-26 lead into the intermission.
• Pepperdine continued to chip away once the second half got underway, and got back within two at 44-42 with 9:14 to go.
• San Diego stayed strong and held its lead until there were just 30 second remaining, and Malik Moore made a second-chance three to tie the game at 52-52.
• Both teams called back-to-back timeouts after Moore's game-tying triple before McKinney took the ball with 22.7 seconds remaining and pushed San Diego to victory with a clutch game-winning three (and a pair of made free throws).

TORERO TIDBITS

• Friday night marks the second time in 2023-2024 that McKinney III has beaten Pepperdine with a last-second shot. On January 27, he took the ball with 21 seconds to go and the score tied 67-67 at Firestone Fieldhouse and waited until there were just a pair of seconds left on the clock to take his shot, a fadeaway jumper just above the free-throw line that was heavily contested by the Waves' 6-foot-11 forward Jevon Porter. When it went in, USD was up by two, and after Pepperdine failed to get a last-chance shot off, the Toreros had earned a gritty win on the road.
• McKinney III totaled 10 points on 2-for-11 shooting while making two of four threes and going 4-for-6 from the line. He added five rebounds and a game-high four assists.
• Patton Jr. put up nine points and six rebounds and made both his attempts from beyond the arc.
• Deuce Turner scored eight points and was a perfect 3-for-3 from the line.
• San Diego scored 18 points on 18 Pepperdine turnovers and outshot the Waves 42% to 32% from beyond the arc.

UP NEXT
With their win over five-seed Pepperdine on Friday, the Toreros advance to the quarterfinals of the 2024 Credit Union 1 WCC Tournament, where they will take on four-seed Santa Clara.

Tip-off against the Broncos on Saturday night at the Orleans Arena is set for 7:00 p.m. The game will be televised nationally on ESPN2, and Jack Cronin will have a live radio call of the contest on USDToreros.com.