SAN DIEGO – Pepperdine held Portland to four points in the final 5:51 Saturday, avoiding an upset by the Pilots in a 77-64 first-round win of the West Coast Conference tournament. The top-seeded Waves (21-7) struggled to shake the Pilots (6-24) the entire game but pulled away in the final minutes.

Portland trailed 41-31 at halftime and fell behind by as many as 13 points in the second half, but the Pilots battled back on Casey Frandsen’s four-point play to get within 53-44 at 11:12 left to play. Two more Frandsen 3-pointers, followed by an Eric Knight 3-pointer and free throws from Patrick Galos and Coky Rochin brought the Pilots within 66-61.

An 11-0 Pepperdine run doused Portland’s upset hopes, though, and even when Frandsen’s sixth 3-pointer of the game brought the Pilots within 76-64, Portland was unable to convert on its final six shots from the field.

Frandsen scored a game-high 20 points for Portland, while Patrick Galos added 13 points and six rebounds. Coky Rochin and Ghislain Sema each scored 11 points and grabbed nine rebounds.

Devin Montgomery had 17 points and eight assists to lead Pepperdine, while Jimmy Miggins added 14 points,k Boomer Brazzle 12 points and 11 rebounds, and Will Kimble 10 points.

The two teams combined to shoot just 36% from the field, but Pepperdine made 20-of-28 free throw attempts in the game and forced 26 Portland turnovers. The Pilots were just 13-of-25 at the free throw line.

Pepperdine closed out the first half with a 17-1 run, reversing a six-point Portland lead into a 41-31 halftime lead. Montgomery scored seven of his 11 first-half points in the run, while Mike Westphal came off the bench with five points, including a jumper at the halftime buzzer.

Adam Quick’s 3-pointer put Portland ahead 28-21, and a few minutes later led 30-24 before Pepperdine caught fire. The Pilots, which had 15 turnovers in the first half, managed only one point in the final xx, while Pepperdine hit six of its final nine shots from the field.

Sema was Portland’s spark off the bench in the first half, collecting eight points and five rebounds. Frandsen knocked down a pair of 3-pointers, extending his consecutive game streak to 30 games.

Portland scored five quick points to open the second half, but Pepperdine answered with an 8-0 run. Galos broke the Waves run with two free throws, but Miggins hit a baseline jumper to put the Waves up 51-38. Portland made only one of its first 12 shots from the field in the second half.