Cowboy Basketball Finishes Jim Thorpe Classic 3-0

Luke Martinez scored a career-high 20 points and Francisco Cruz added 18, as the Wyoming Cowboys completed a perfect weekend in the Jim Thorpe Classic, with a 73-58 victory over the Louisiana Tech Bulldogs Sunday night at the Arena-Auditorium.

After a couple of ties in the first few minutes, Wyoming took the lead for good thanks to a 12-2 run over a five minute span early in the first half.  The spurt gave the Cowboys an 18-8 lead with 11:16 left in the opening period.  Louisiana Tech was able to pull within six, at 22-16, but UW stretched the lead to 11 twice before they held a 31-23 lead at halftime.

UW scored the first eight points of the second half and built a 39-23 lead with 18:03 to play.  The Bulldogs made a small push and cut it to ten, at 46-36, with 12:02 remaining, but that was as close as Louisiana Tech would get.  The Cowboys pushed the advantage to 23 points at the 5:08 mark for a 65-42 lead and coasted to the 15-point victory.

Martinez was named the Jim Thorpe Classic tournament MVP for his play in the three games, while Cruz was also named to the All-Tournament team.  Martinez averaged 17 points and five rebounds per game.  He went 16-of-26 from the field, including 13-of-21 from 3-point range.  Cruz went 16-for-29 and averaged 13 points per game.  It was also a good weekend for point guard JayDee Luster, as he dished out 15 assists and had only one turnover in the three games.

Adam Waddell was the third Cowboy in double figures, as he added 11 points in the win.  Wyoming (6-1) shot 47.7 percent (21-44) from the field, shot 50 percent (11-22) from beyond the arc and went 20-of-21 at the free throw line, good for 95.2 percent.

Louisiana Tech (2-3) was held to 37.3 percent (19-51) shooting.  The Bulldogs were led by Cordarius Johnson with 16 points and Kenyon McNeaill had 13.

The Cowboys return to action Wednesday when they host the Utah Valley Wolverines at the AA.  Game time is at 7 pm.  You can listen to Wyoming Cowboy basketball on KCGY (FM 95.1) starting at 6:30 pm.