MALIBU, Calif. – Phillip Russell scored a career-high 25 points and Nygal Russell added a double-double 15 points and 10 rebounds as Southeast Missouri (5-7) came up short in an 83-77 loss to Pepperdine (5-8) Saturday night at Firestone Fieldhouse.
P. Russell, who scored 20 of his points in the second half alone, finished with over 20 points for the third time this season. N. Russell turned in his team-best second double-double of the 2021-22 campaign.
Down 35-30 at halftime, SEMO scored on its first seven possessions of the second half and used a 16-2 run to build a 46-37 lead, its largest of the night.
Dylan Branson made the first of his two second-half threes to begin the ferocious surge. Sam Thompson added four points and P. Russell scored five to also help key the surge that ended on Russell's own jumper with 16:33 remaining.
After SEMO led, 52-47, following a 3-pointer by N. Russell, the Waves responded with a 19-2 run that proved to be the difference in the end.
Mike Mitchell Jr. tied the game at 52-52 with a second chance 3-pointer and PU later regained a two-point edge after Darryl Polk Jr. made a pair of free throws. Jan Zidek's layup off a turnover finished off the run as the Waves pulled ahead, 64-54, at the 7:43 mark.
In the final 1:09 of the contest, SEMO was within two possessions a total of seven times, but couldn't catch PU.
P. Russell's 3-pointer and N. Russell's free throws each closed the Waves' lead to four in that stretch, but that was as close as the Redhawks would get.
SEMO had a more difficult time getting shots to fall from long range in the first half missing seven of its first eight 3-point field goal attempts.
The Redhawks led for just 1:16 of the first half and fell behind by 10 on two occasions. PU used a 6-0 jaunt to take a 29-19 lead with just under six minutes left and went up, 35-25, on Ohio Obioha's layup at the 2:05 mark.
SEMO held the Waves scoreless for the final 2:05 of the opening stanza and managed to get within five when N.Russell buried a 3-pointer off a pass from Chris Harris to make it a 35-30 game at the intermission.
Two areas that loomed large for SEMO in the end were turnovers and offensive rebounds. The Redhawks committed a season-high 21 miscues and were outrebounded by 10 (15-5) on the offensive glass.
Other than that, SEMO gave PU all it could handle.
P. Russell shot 9-of-14 from the field, 4-of-6 from distance and 3-of-5 at the free throw line to lead three Redhawks in double figures. He finished with double-digits for the fourth-straight game and 10th time in 12 starts.
N. Russell hit 5-of-9 field goals and followed with three 3-pointers. Russell, SEMO's top rebounder, pulled down 10 or more rebounds for the third time this year.
Thompson, who missed the last eight games with a sprained ankle, made a nice return. He scored 13 points on a near-perfect 6-of-7 field goals to go along with three boards in 12 minutes off the bench.
As a team, SEMO shot 52.6 percent (30-of-57) from the field for the game and a blazing 60 percent (18-of-30) in the final 20 minutes. Additionally, the Redhawks made eight of their 10 threes in the second half.
SEMO and PU met for the first time in their basketball histories. The Waves marked the 13th different NCAA Division I California school the Readhawks faced.
The Redhawks head to California Baptist on the back end of their two-game California swing on Dec. 21. That game will be SEMO's last in non-conference play.
