Derrious Gilmore scored a career-high 19 points and Leonard Washington added 16 points, as the Wyoming Cowboys won their 2012-2013 season debut, 62-42, over the Western State Colorado Mountaineers. UW took control of the game as they held the Mountaineers without a point for an 8:34 stretch of the second half.

Wyoming (1-0) went on a 12-0 run while they shutout Western State and expanded a 36-29 lead to 48-29. Gilmore had 7 points during the run. The Pokes were never threatened after that. They held the Mountaineers to 31 percent shooting in the game.

Cowboys Head Coach Larry Shyatt said, "You have to know what impacts winning, and when you have a really miserable shooting night, to keep your focus, to keep your mindset on the defensive end, they showed me the culture I would like us to build. On those 5 or 6 really weak shooting nights, we can find a way to win."

Gilmore also had 4 rebounds, 4 assists and 4 steals in 30 minutes of action. Washington added 7 rebounds and 3 blocked shots. Riley Grabau and Larry Nance, Junior each contributed 8 points in the win.

As for Gilmore's career high, he said, "I wasn't really too much focused on offense. I really let the offense just come to me. I was focused on just trying to do the right things on defense, because I know our defense would trigger our offense."

Western State was led by Joseph Charles, who scored 17 points off the bench.

The Cowboys missed their first seven shots of the game, but thanks to some solid defense, the game never got away from them. Down 13-12, UW had a 9-1 run in the first half thanks to a pair of 3-pointers by Washington and one from Luke Martinez. That put Wyoming ahead 21-14, and they never trailed the rest of the game. The Pokes led 28-24 at halftime.

UW finished the game 19-of-54 from the field for 35.2 percent. They were 9-26 (34.6%) on 3's and 15-21 for 71.4 percent at the free throw line.

Western State (0-1) was 13-of-42 from the floor, which included 5-19 (26.3%) from 3-point range. They were 11-16 (68.8%) at the stripe.

The Cowboys return to action next Wednesday, Thursday and Friday, as they host the Global Sports Hoops Showcase. Wyoming will host Southern, South Dakota and North Carolina Central at the Arena-Auditorium. UW will face North Carolina Central in their first game of the tournament on Wednesday night. Tip-off at the AA is at 7 pm. You can listen to Cowboy basketball on Y95 Country with the broadcast beginning at 6:30 pm.

More From KOWB 1290