MALIBU, Calif. (AP)—Matt Mouzy had 16 points as Arkansas-Little Rock held on for a 66-65 win against Pepperdine on Sunday.
Mouzy had 13 of his points in the first half for Arkansas-Little Rock (2-0) while John Fowler and Shane Edwards each had 13.
Trailing 66-65, Pepperdine called timeout with 16.7 seconds remaining to set up a final shot. But Jonathan Dupre missed a jumper off a rebound with five seconds left, sealing the loss for the Waves (1-1).
Mike Smith had 12 points and 11 rebounds for Arkansas-Little Rock, who out-rebounded Pepperdine by eight.
Pepperdine trailed by as many as 11 points in the second half and pulled as close 66-65 when Keion Bell made two free throws with 19 seconds remaining. Bell’s layup cut Arkansas-Little Rock’s lead to 65-63 on the Waves’ previous possession.
Bell scored 13 of his points in the second half for a game-high 17 points and Dane Suttle made four 3-pointers in the final 20 minutes to finish with 12 points for the Waves.
Arkansas-Little Rock led by as many as nine points several times in the first half by making 3-pointers and driving into the gaps of Pepperdine’s 2-3 defense.
Pepperdine scored four straight points off two free throws from Ryan Holmes and a lay-up from Bell before the buzzer sounded to trim Arkansas-Little Rock’s lead to 32-27 at halftime.
