Khalif Battle scored 21 points as No. 19 Gonzaga held off a furious second-half rally to win its 29th consecutive West Coast Conference opener, defeating Pepperdine 89-82 on Monday in Malibu, Calif.The Bulldogs (10-4, 1-0 WCC) defeated the Waves for the 48th time in a row, a streak dating to 2002.Gonzaga’s Braden Huff scored 19 points on 9-of-10 shooting from the field, Graham Ike added 16 points and a game-high nine rebounds before fouling out and Ben Gregg tallied 12 points.Jaxon Olvera led the Waves (6-9, 0-2) with a game-high 27 points. Moe Odum scored all 24 of his points in the second half and added eight assists, and Stefan Todorovic had 16 points, six rebounds and four assists.Gonzaga shot 54.5 percent (36 of 66) from the field despite being just 2 of 15 (13.3 percent) from 3-point range. The Bulldogs had a 64-34 edge in points in the paint and a 35-5 advantage in bench scoring. Pepperdine shot 47.1 percent (32 of 68) and was 9 of 29 (31 percent) from long distance.Odum’s three-point play capped a 22-4 run early in the second half and pulled the Waves within 56-54 with 13:08 left.
