PORTLAND, Ore. – Colbey Ross scored 24 points and dished out 12 assists to lead the Pepperdine Waves to a 91-70 victory over the Portland Pilots Saturday night in West Coast Conference basketball action at the Chiles Center. Ahmed Ali paced the Pilots with 19 points, but the Waves were able to secure the season sweep.

Ben Johnson made his head coaching debut for the Pilots (6-12, 0-9 WCC) after being elevated to interim head coach on Friday. Portland battled, but Pepperdine was more efficient on offense and capitalized on an 18-5 edge in points off turnovers.

Kessler Edwards (11 points, 10 rebounds) and Kene Chukwuka (10 points, 10 rebounds) also logged double-doubles for the Waves (8-8, 4-3 WCC).

Latrell Jones and Eddie Davis finished with 16 and 15 points, respectively, for Portland.

Pepperdine never trailed after jumping out to an early double-digit lead. Hayden Curtiss buried his first career three-pointer to cap a 10-2 run and pull the Pilots within 22-20, but back-to-back threes from Ross pushed the margin back to double figures.

Another Portland flurry made it a one-possession game following a Davis triple before the Pilots went cold and the Waves took a 47-35 lead into the half.

Ali converted a three-point play midway through the second period to draw the Pilots within eight, but that would be as close as it would get down the stretch.

Pepperdine finished the game shooting 49 percent from the field and knocked down 11-of-29 three-pointers. Portland shot 43 percent overall and was just 6-for-26 from beyond the arc.

The Waves committed just seven turnovers while forcing 13 from the Pilots. Pepperdine also had a 16-7 edge in second chance points.

The Pilots are next scheduled to play at Santa Clara on Feb. 13, but with numerous WCC men's teams in-and-out of COVID pauses changes to the league schedule are expected. Visit PortlandPilots.com for the latest updates.