Macomb, Ill- The WIU men's basketball team split their west coast trip falling to Pepperdine on Wednesday night. Sean Smith had another strong performance against the Waves, scoring a team-high 18 points to go along with five rebounds and three assists. 

The first half started out slow for both teams as Pepperdine would be up 13-11 with 13:02 remaining in the opening frame. The Leathernecks would go scoreless for the next four minutes in which the Waves would go on an extended 5-0 run to take the lead at 18-11 with 10:07 to go. After a Pepperdine turnover, Marko Maletic would hit a three from the left wing on a pass from Trey Deveaux to end the drought for WIU. Rodrick Payne would score the next five points for the Leathernecks followed by back-to-back threes from Julius Rollins and Ryan Myers as a part of a 14-4 run that gave WIU the 25-22 lead with 4:17 to play in half number one. Pepperdine would go on a 12-2 run to close out the half and would take a seven point lead into the locker room by a score of 34-27. Western Illinois forced 8 turnovers in the first half and committed only three turnovers to win the turnover battle in the opening twenty minutes of play.

In the second half, Pepperdine would start on a 10-2 run going up 44-29 with 16:39 to go in the game. WIU would cut the Wave deficit to 10 seven different times in the half and got it down to as close as eight with 6:50 remaining. Pepperdine responded with a 9-2 run putting the Waves up 71-56 with 3:50 to go. The Leathernecks would continue to fight in the final minutes of the game as Marko Maletic would hit a three and Sean Smith would get a layup with 2:45 left on the clock. WIU would go scoreless for nearly two minutes down the stretch, as the final score would be 77-64. Smith had 12 second half points on 5/9 shooting and Marko Maletic would add 10 second half points to lead the way for the Leatherneck offense in the second half. The Leathernecks shot 41% from the field for the game and had 15 points off of Pepperdine's 13 turnovers. WIU won the turnover battle committing only 9 turnovers for the game. 

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