Pepperdine Beaten by Boston, 75-61

ALBUQUERQUE — Raja Bell’s 21 points and Joey Beard’s 18 points and 12 rebounds carried Boston University to a 75-61 victory over Pepperdine in the opening round of the Lobo Invitational Thursday night.

Boston (4-4) will meet New Mexico (9-0) in tonight’s championship game. New Mexico beat Dartmouth, 91-66, in the tournament opener.

Beard made seven of 10 shots and steadied a Boston offense that went without a field goal for more than six minutes in the first half and missed its first 11 shots of the second half.

But Pepperdine (6-4) could not cash in on Boston’s shooting problems. The Waves, led by Marques Johnson’s 17 points and Bryan Hill’s 13, made only two of their first nine shots in the second half and shot 37 percent for the game.