The Pepperdine Waves and the Bellarmine Knights meet in a CBI tournament semi-final in college basketball action from the Ocean Center on Tuesday night.
The Pepperdine Waves booked their spot in the semis thanks to an 80-66 win over Longwood last time out. Kessler Edwards led the Waves in scoring with 22 points on 8 of 13 shooting with a pair of threes and 5 rebounds while Colbey Ross and Jade’ Smith had 14 points apiece with Smith shooting 6 of 12 from the floor with 6 rebounds, 3 assists and a pair of steals while Ross shot 4 of 10 with 5 rebounds and a team-high 13 assists for the double-double. Victor Obia Obioha had 13 points on 6 of 9 shooting with 11 rebounds along with a pair of steals and a pair of blocks for his own double-double and Majok Deng had 11 points with 3 threes and 5 rebounds to cap off the group of double-digit scorers as all five starters for Pepperdine had at least 11 points in the win.
The Bellarmine Knights reached the semis thanks to their 77-67 win over Army last time out. Pedro Bradshaw led the Knights in scoring with 31 points on 8 of 19 shooting with a 14 of 16 mark from the foul line along with 11 rebounds and 3 blocks for the double-double while CJ Fleming had 17 points on 6 of 9 shooting with 5 threes, 4 rebounds and 3 assists. Dylan Penn added 13 points on 6 of 10 shooting with 4 rebounds, a pair of assists and 3 steals to cap off the trio of double-digit scorers for Bellarmine in the victory.
Pepperdine is 12-3-1 ATS in their last 16 games overall and 15-5-2 ATS in their last 22 neutral site games while the over is 4-1 in their last 5 Tuesday games. Bellarmine is 7-3 ATS in their last 10 games following a win and 9-4 ATS in their last 13 games overall while the over is 4-0 in their last 4 games overall.
I get why some would question the total with Bellarmine’s defensive numbers this season but the Knights also faced mostly ASUN competition so a high-octane Pepperdine offense may prove tough to contain. On the other side, Pepperdine isn’t the toughest defense in the country, so I’ll back the over here as I can see both teams getting into the 70s in this one, but my stronger play is on the side and I have that available as a premium pick that you can find here.