Cowboys Cruz to 20th Win on Senior Night

Behind 23 points and 14 rebounds from Leonard Washington and 19 points and 5 assists from Francisco Cruz, the Wyoming Cowboys picked up their 20th victory of the season with a 71-59 win over the TCU Horned Frogs Tuesday night at the Arena-Auditorium. The five healthy seniors started and accounted for the first 15 points, as UW got its first 20-win season since 2002-2003.

Washington hit 9-0f-13 shots while Cruz made 8-of-11 as the hot shooting Cowboys shot better than 50 percent in both halves of the game. Adam Waddell also scored in double figures with 14. UW had 18 assists and committed a season-low 1 turnover while finding 44 points in the paint.

Wyoming (20-9, 6-7) jumped to an early 15-6 lead, as they hit seven of their first 9 shots from the field. That included Cruz, who made 4-of-5 shots and added 4 early assists. TCU (17-12, 7-6) pushed back within 8, at 32-24, on back-to-back baskets from Cadot. Then UW got six points from Cruz and a Waddell free throw in the last 3:15 for a 39-29 halftime lead.

The Horned Frogs mini 7-0 run cut the Cowboys lead to 47-42 with 15:51 to play, but Wyoming responded with six straight points highlighted by a Waddell to Washington alley-oop dunk. TCU never really threatened after that.

The Pokes shot 54 percent (28-52) from the field, 30 percent (3-10) from beyond the arc and 60 percent (12-20) from the foul line. Adam Waddell put up 14 points and JayDee Luster had 8 assists with no turnovers in 26 minutes.

TCU was held to 41 percent (21-51) shooting from the field, 27 percent (6-22) from trey and 58 percent (11-19) from the free throw line. The Horned Frogs were led by J.R. Cadot with 11 points.

The Cowboys will close conference play on Saturday with a trip to UNLV. Tip is set for 8 p.m. Coverage will start on KCGY-FM at 7:30 p.m. and Cowboy Talk will follow with David Settle.