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2nd Half Surge Propels Cowboys To 9-1
Laramie - 12/20/2008
Cowboys entering Saturday's game as the mirror image of their opponent.
Wyoming coming in at 8-1, Sacramento State just 1-8, with 11 Junior college transfers on their roster.
Cowboys trying to avoid getting stung by the Hornets.
- Early on Sacramento State hanging tough. Antonio Flaggs deposits one of his 6 treys to help the Hornets to an in the 1st half. He finishes with a team-high 23 pts.
- But Cowboys push the ball down the floor, redshirt freshman Afam Muojeke races in for the lay-up and the foul! Muojeke 20 pts and a career-high 9 rebounds.
- Cowboys actuallys trail by 1, 37-36 at intermission. Flaggs and Loren Leath combine for 9 threes and 42 pts as the Hornets' guards.
- In the 2nd half the tide turns in Wyoming's favor, as the Cowboys open up with a 16-2 run to take control. Sean Ogirri hits a J off the curl.
- Then Brandon Ewing finds Ogirri for one of his career-high 11 assists as Ogirri nails an open three pointer. Ogirr finishes with 25 pts after scoring a career-high 26 earlier this week.
- Ewing then turns up the defense, the steal and then the deal! Ewing 20 pts to go with those 11 dimes.
- Finally check out Djibril Thiam (pronounced Chum) in just in his 3rd game as a Poke, he registers his first double with 11 pts and 10 rebounds. Thiam breaks out a dunk in transition and a sweet spinning layup on an inbounds play. Wyoming improves to 9-1 with a 93-70 victory and coach Heath Schroyer says this second half performance was the best 20 minutes the cowboys have turned in so far this season.
"We had only 3 turnovers in the 2nd half and we had five guys score in double figures and when you do that you know you're sharing the ball well and I thought we did that as well," said coach Heath Schroyer.
"We definitely can pick it up though," said Sean Ogirri. "If we play like that for 40 minutes then who knows how much we can score or how good we can play. So I just feel like our defensive intensity made us pick up the game and we just took off with the win."
"They didn't have nothing to lose but had a lot to gain by coming in here and (almost) getting a big road win against us," added Brandon Ewing. "We came in 8-1 and we took their best well, we took it as men and we came out with the win."
Wyoming's next opponent is one of the most-anticipated matchups of the season.
12th-ranked UCLA squares off with the Pokes Tuesday at Pauley Pavilion, where the Bruins have not lost to an unranked non-conference opponent in 34 straight contests.
In their final game before facing Wyoming, the Bruins defeat Mercer, 76-59. Leading scorer Darren Collisen finishes with 20 pts.
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