Jalen Leach scored 21 points to help Northwestern post a 68-50 win over Pepperdine on Friday night at Evanston, Ill.Nick Martinelli added 20, while Brooks Barnhizer added 13 for Northwestern (5-1). Leach was 7 of 12 from the field and perfect from the free throw line on six attempts.Jaxon Olvera scored 11 points and Taj Au-Duke added 10 for Pepperdine (1-4). The Waves shot 28.6 percent from the field and 15 percent (3 of 20) from beyond the arc.With 15:24 left in the contest, the Wildcats (5-1) had hit four of their last five shots to increase their lead to as many as 23. Northwestern never looked back, shooting 42.1 percent from the field and adding 18 free throws out of 21 attempts.Northwestern held highly touted Waves guard Stefan Todorovic to six points. He finished 2 of 10 from the field and missed all four 3-point shots. Todorovic’s struggles were coupled with the Wildcats” 11 forced turnovers, which led to a 13 points to help break the game open.Despite not scoring for less than five minutes in the latter part of the second half, the Wildcats ended their drought with back-to-back free throws from Leach.