Cowboy Basketball Wins Exhibition Over CSU-Pueblo 85-78

Behind 29 points from Francisco Cruz, the Wyoming Cowboys outlasted CSU-Pueblo, 85-78, in their exhibition game Saturday night at the Arena-Auditorium. Three other Cowboys scored in double figures as Wyoming pulled away in the second half.

Leonard Washington scored 17 points and grabbed 8 rebounds while Luke Martinez added 13 points in the debut for both players, who red-shirted last season. Adam Waddell added 12 points and 8 rebounds in 27 minutes.

Arden Dennis led four Thunderwolves in double figures with 24 points.

UW fell behind 10-2 in the early going, but battled their way back with a 16-3 run, highlighted by 3 three's from Cruz. Cowboys got their biggest lead of the first half on a monster dunk by Washington with 5:50 left in the first half. Martinez found a three at the buzzer to send the Cowboys into the locker room with a 43-39 lead.

Wyoming started the second half on a 13-3 run and built a 56-44 lead. CSU-Pueblo rallied within 4, but the Cowboys stemmed the tide and extended the lead to 16 points at 74-58 with 7:39 remaining. The Thunderwolves responded with a 13-3 run and cut the UW lead to 77-71 with 4:34 left but that was as close as they would get.

The Cowboys shot 51 percent from the field, hit 11 three's and out-rebounded CSU-Pueblo 35-23. The Thunderwolves shot 50 percent and hit 10 three's.

The regular season will start Saturday, Nov. 12th when Wyoming hosts Western State at 8 p.m. in the Arena-Auditorium. You can listen to Cowboy basketball on KCGY-FM 95.1 with coverage starting at 7:30 p.m.