Pepperdine Is a 56-44 Loser

Gerald Zimmerman scored 23 points, including 11 in the final 11 minutes , as San Francisco snapped a four-game losing streak and held off Pepperdine, 56-44, on Friday night in a West Coast Conference game at San Francisco.

The Waves, 17-9 and 8-3 in conference, went on a 10-2 run to open the second half after being down by 12 points midway through the first.

But Pepperdine could get no closer than 44-40 with 5:25 to go. San Francisco (10-16, 2-9) closed the game with a 22-10 burst, half of the points coming from Zimmerman, the conference’s second-leading scorer.

Pepperdine’s Jelani Gardner, who leads the Waves with a 14.6 scoring average, was held to seven points and was only one for 11 from the field.

The Waves, who had won 11 of their last 14 games, shot 31%.

Pepperdine made only 13 field goals in 42 attempts, including two-for-15 shooting from beyond the three-point arc.

James Lee chipped in with 12 points for San Francisco, and Marc McDowell led the Waves with 10 points.

The Dons, who forced the Waves into 27 turnovers, made only one three-pointer in eight attempts. Zimmerman, who was nine for 15 from the field, hit the Dons’ only three-pointer of the night.

Pepperdine next plays Sunday against Santa Clara.

Santa Clara 89, Loyola Marymount 81--Nathan Fast scored 19 points and Alex Lopez added 18 for the Broncos in a West Coast Conference game at Santa Clara.

Delano D’Oyen and Darrell Teat each added 15 points for the Broncos (11-12, 7-4), who enjoyed their best offensive game of the season.

Haywood Eaddy scored 28 points, 18 in the second half, to lead Loyola Marymount (10-13, 5-6), which has lost three of its last four games.

Willie Allen added 15 points and Tim Kennedy 12 for the Lions.

Todd Wuschnig earned his second double-double of the season with 12 points and 10 rebounds for Santa Clara.

The Broncos built a double-digit lead in the first four minutes of the second half and Loyola Marymount could get no closer than six points.

After Rupert McClendon scored to give Loyola Marymount a 35-34 lead with 2:25 left in the half, the Broncos scored nine unanswered points en route to a 43-36 halftime edge.

Elton Mashack finished with 11 points for Loyola Marymount, which will play San Francisco tonight.

In other games: Princeton had its 35-game Ivy League winning streak snapped, losing to Yale, 60-58, in double overtime at New Haven, Conn. Neil Yanke had 21 points and 10 rebounds as Yale (4-17) handed Princeton (16-5) its first league loss since dropping its regular-season finale to Penn in 1995. . . .Yegor Mescheriakov maintained his torrid pace at home with a game-high 28 points and Shawnta Rogers added 26 and eight assists as George Washington (15-6, 9-2 in Atlantic 10) defeated St. Joseph’s, 94-70, at Washington. St. Joseph’s is 9-15, 3-9.