Colbey Ross shoots Pepperdine into WCC tourney quarterfinals

Pepperdine standout point guard Colbey Ross opened West Coast Conference men’s tournament play with one of his worst shooting nights of the season in the Waves’ win over Pacific on Thursday night.

But that 3-for-14 performance was the furthest thing from his mind as he squared up to release a potential winning 3-point shot in the final minute of a tie game against Loyola Marymount in Friday’s second round at Orleans Arena.

“I feel like when those times come, I’m prepared for the moment and I’m going to make the big shots no matter what,” said Ross, a first-team All-WCC selection. “Once it left my finger, I just knew.”

His feeling was right.

Ross’s shot went through with 31 seconds left to help eighth-seeded Pepperdine advance to the quarterfinals with a 68-65 win over No. 5 Loyola Marymount. The Waves will play fourth-seeded San Francisco at 7 p.m. Saturday.

Seventh-seeded San Diego defeated No. 6 Santa Clara 62-45 to earn a quarterfinal matchup with third-seeded Brigham Young at 9:30 p.m. Saturday.

While the Toreros essentially led the entire game, Pepperdine rallied from an 11-point deficit in the second half and survived an open look from Loyola Marymount star James Batemon at the buzzer that would have forced overtime.

“If you’re leaving Batemon for a game-winning or game-tying anything, you’re scared,” Ross said. “He’s such a great player. He’s so clutch. We got a little lucky on that one, but it went in our favor.”

It wouldn’t have mattered without a bounceback game from Ross, a 6-foot-1-inch sophomore who is averaging 19.1 points and a program-record 7.1 assists.

He finished with 20 points, including 4-for-5 on 3s, and six assists, but he wasn’t pleased with his five turnovers.

The winning shot, though, made up for it.

“We’re feeling great,” Ross said. “I wasn’t shooting the ball well last night, and tonight wasn’t a great game for me, either, but my teammates stepped up and at the end of the day, we got the job done. My coaches and teammates won’t let me lose confidence. They know how much work I put in every day, and they know I’ll knock shots down when I need to.”

Pepperdine coach Lorenzo Romar didn’t expect anything less.

“I think we’re accustomed to seeing that,” he said of Ross’s heroics. “He’s obviously a very good basketball player, a very good guard and a great offensive player. It’s not the first time he’s hit a big shot for us. We have a lot of confidence in him making that shot for us, as well as other guys, but we felt given the situation that he could make a play there.”

He did, and now the Waves will meet a San Francisco team that had a double-bye. The Dons won both regular-season matchups.

“We lost to them twice, and they’re a good team, but we’re not playing with any fear right now,” Ross said. “We’ve played two games here already, and we know what it’s about.”

San Diego has lost both its games to BYU.

Contact Adam Hill at ahill@reviewjournal.com or 702-277-8028. Follow @AdamHillLVRJ on Twitter.