Shorthanded Cowboys Surge Past Mines in Second Half, 80-59
LARAMIE -- The Wyoming Cowboys, playing with only eight available scholarship players due to illness, surged passed South Dakota Mines in the second half in an 80-59 win on Tuesday evening in the Arena-Auditorium in Laramie.
It was the first home contest in 24 days for the Pokes, as Wyoming opened their three-game homestand with their third home win this season.
“It was good to get re-familiarized with your home court and that happens a lot when you play on the road,” UW head coach Jeff Linder said. “For us to have the first half we did, which was not ideal, but considering the circumstances with Wenzel and Newton out sick and players under the weather, our guys really pushed through. In the second half we got to the second and third action and we got what we wanted. We had better rhythm in the second half. They have older guys and you look who we are playing with two true freshmen in the starting lineup. It was good for us to get those guys experience.
"You look at the schedule now it gets tough with some tough teams. We have to keep moving forward and get these guys healthy soon than later. All in all we found a way to win.”
Freshman Cam Manyawu recorded a career-high 20 points and 11 rebounds for his fifth double-double of the season. Sam Griffin added 17 points and tied a career-high with eight rebounds with seven assists. He has scored in double figures in all eight games this season along with Akuel Kot. He added 15 points and grabbed a season-high in rebounds with five. Kael Combs recorded a career-high eight points.
Wyoming shot 53 percent from both the field and behind the arc. It is the fourth game shooting 50 percent or more from the field and third game shooting 50 percent or better from behind the arc.
Wyoming held SD Mines to 38 percent for the third game holding an opponent to under 40 percent from the field. Wyoming held a 40-26 advantage on the glass for the night.
SD Mines got off to a fast start with an early 10-3 lead on the Cowboys hitting a trio of three pointers during the run. Griffin recorded the Cowboy’s first three pointer of the game to make it a 12-10 contest for the Hardrockers five minutes into the game.
Oleg Kojenets gave Wyoming a brief 15-14 lead at the 12:11 mark, but the Hardrockers added a triple the following trip to take back the lead. Kot added a triple of his own for a 18-17 lead for the Pokes with 11 minutes left in the opening frame.
SD Mines would take the lead back and Caden Powell tied the contest at 21-21 with eight minutes left in the stanza. Griffin would add a triple seconds later for a Wyoming lead. Kot made it a six-point game later with a three pointer, but a run by SD Mines of 6-0 tied the game at 31-31 with over three minutes left in the half.
They capped a 9-0 run for a 34-31 lead with 2:30 left on the clock.
Jacob Theodosiou made a free throw and added a layup in transition that gave Wyoming a 35-34 lead with under a minute left in the half and that was the score at the half.
Griffin and Kot got the Pokes off to a fast start in the opening seconds of the second half for a 40-34 lead for the Brown and Gold. Mayawu pushed the lead to nine points at 48-39 with a slam and later a free throw with 16 minutes left in the game.
Kael Combs pushed the lead to 11 points at 52-41 with 14 minutes left on a nice cut to the bucket. The Wyoming offense would go cold with no field goals for over eight minutes until Manyawu added a score for a 61-51 contest with 5:36 left in the game.
Combs added a three off a pass from Griffin for a 66-51 contest capping a 9-0 run with 4:26 left. Wyoming would push the lead to 18 points and would cruise to the 80-59 win.
SD Mines was led by Cameron Cohn with 14 points in the contest. Alejandro added 12 points in the contest.
The Cowboys return to action on Saturday hosting Stephen F. Austin at 2 p.m. in the Arena-Auditorium.