Jackson, San Diego overpower Pepperdine

De’Jon Jackson scored a career-high 24 points and Brandon Johnson had 17 to lead San Diego to a 73-55 win over outmanned Pepperdine on Saturday night in a West Coast Conference tournament quarterfinal game at San Diego

No. 3-seeded San Diego (19-13) will face second-seeded St. Mary’s in the semifinals tonight.

Jackson was 10 for 14 from the field, including four for six from three-point range. Johnson made five of seven three-point shots.

Rob Jones scored 16 points and had a career-high 15 rebounds for the Toreros, who had a 45-25 rebounding edge.

Freshman Malcolm Thomas scored 17 points to lead sixth-seeded Pepperdine (11-21), which lost to San Diego in the WCC tournament for the fourth straight year. Freshman Tyrone Shelley had 16 points.

San Diego had little trouble with Pepperdine, which played with only eight players because of injuries. The Toreros took a 16-7 lead less than eight minutes into the game and led by double digits most of the final 10 minutes of the half.

Santa Clara 51, San Francisco 50 -- John Bryant scored 25 points, grabbed 17 rebounds and made two free throws with three seconds left to lift the Broncos (15-15) over the Dons (10-21) in quarterfinal game.

Santa Clara will next face WCC regular-season champion Gonzaga, winner of four straight WCC tournament titles and 10 of 11.