Yeo Propels Redhawks Past Waves, 83-81

SEATTLE – Junseok Yeo’s first 16 points were big. But it was his final two that made the difference on Wednesday night.

Yeo’s putback lay-in with 13 seconds remaining put Seattle University into the lead and the Redhawks hung on through the final tense moments to beat Pepperdine in a West Coast Conference men’s basketball game inside the Redhawk Center, 83-81.

Houran Dan came off the bench to add a career-high 13 points for Seattle U (15-9, 4-7 WCC). Brayden Maldonado and Will Heimbrodt also tallied 13 apiece.

Both of them also came up big in the final seconds. Heimbrodt blocked an attempted lay-in by Pepperdine’s Styles Phipps with seven seconds left. Maldonado secured the rebound, was fouled and hit one of his two free throws with 6.1 remaining for an 83-81 lead.

The Waves (6-18, 1-10 WCC) were out of timeouts, so had to rush the ball downcourt. Jayon Cooley launched a 3-pointer from the right corner that flew over the rim as the buzzer sounded.

The Redhawks led through most of the second half, once by as many as 10 with 12:30 to play. But Pepperdine climbed back in and took an 80-79 lead on a trey by Phipps with 1:56 to go.

Then, after hitting their first 23 free throws, the Waves missed one on the back end of a two-shot foul at the 1:32 mark, leaving them with an 81-79 edge.

Heimbrodt cut into that by hitting one of his two foul shots at 1:06. Pepperdine’s Phipps went back to the line at 43.9 seconds, but missed both.

The Redhawks got the ball back into frontcourt, but couldn’t find what they wanted so called timeout with 23.9 seconds on the game clock and 10 on the shot clock. When play resumed, Maldonado wound up with the ball on the left side of the lane and fired a 3-point try with the shot clock winding down.

It bounced off the rim, but Yeo was there to corral it and go back up for an 82-81 lead at 13.0 seconds to go.

Pepperdine led for a good chunk of the first half and was up 43-39 as the clock ticked under one minute. The Redhawks then scored five points in the final 45 seconds.

Yeo started it with a traditional three-point play, cutting the deficit to 43-42 with 28 seconds left. Maleek Arington then came up with a steal in backcourt. With time running out, he flung up a desperation shot from just in front of the midcourt line.

Arington was fouled on the shot with 1.3 seconds to go – and it was a three-shot foul. He hit the first to tie it at 43-43, missed the second, then drained the third to put the Redhawks up by one at 44-43 heading into the break.

By the Numbers

--Seattle U’s reserves came up big with 28 points. That included all 10 points of a 10-0 second half run to turn a 53-53 tie into a 63-53 lead. Houran Dan started it with a dunk, John Christofilis bombed in a 3-pointer from the left of the lane, then added a mid-range jumper also from the left side, and Jojo Murphy capped with a steal and a traditional three-point play.

-- The final difference in bench points was 28-4.

--Seattle U shot 49.1 percent from the field, hitting 28-of-57. Pepperdine finished at 43.1 percent (25-of-58),but the Redhawks limited the Waves to just 32.1 percent (9-of-28) in the second half.

--Arington handed out eight assists, just one shy of his season high.

-- Heimbrodt’s blocked shot in the final seconds was his third of the night and moved him up to No. 3 on SU’s all-time single-season list. He now has 58. David White had 57 during the 2006-07 season.

--The Redhawks are now 4-3 in games decided by fewer than five points.

--Aaron Clark scored 22 points for the Waves.