Riley Grabau shoots over a San Diego State defender at Tuesday’s game. The Cowboys came out as victors over the Aztecs with a final score of 62-68.
Wyoming used a balanced scoring attack, led by junior guard Riley Grabau’s 17 points, to build a 16 point lead and were able to hang on late to beat No.5 San Diego State 68-62 on Tuesday night.
“We don’t fear the moment,” said junior guard Charles Hankerson Jr. “We knew it was big a stage and we stepped up.”
Wyoming 15-9 (6-5), took their biggest lead of 16, with 16:39 to play, when junior forward Larry Nance Jr. found his front court mate junior forward Derek Cooke Jr. for a one-handed alley-oop dunk.
San Diego State 21-2, (10-1), was able to cut the lead to single digits on a three from freshman forward Matt Shrigley with 10:26 to play. But, the Cowboys answered in the form of a Hankerson three and an Adams fast break layup to grow their lead back to 14 with 9:25 to play.
San Diego State was again able to chip into the Cowboy lead and got it down to 8, 52-44, before Nance went to the line and made two free throws with 5:43 to play.
San Diego State then cut Wyoming’s lead to five with 1:41 to play on a missed free throw by senior forward Josh Davis, which Davis was able to rebound and put right back up and in.
Grabau responded at the 1:17 mark by hitting two free throws to extended his streak to 35 consecutive free throws made.
“Its just another free throw to me,” said Grabau.
The Aztecs got even closer to the Cowboys on a layup from sophomore forward Winston Shepard with .58 seconds to play making it 64-60.
On the following possession, the Cowboys managed to break the Aztecs’ press to create a Nathan Sobey dunk and increase the lead back to six with 52 seconds to play.
Finally, with 23 seconds to play redshirt senior guard Jerron Granberry sealed the game with a big block on a drive by Shrigley.
“We dodged a couple bullets late in this game,” said Wyoming head coach Larry Shyatt. “If there was ever a team that deserved it, it would be this team. They represent us like your supposed to be represented, in the classroom, off the floor, and by god they play as well as anyone I have ever been around in forty years.”
This win snapped a two game skid for the Cowboys. On their recent road trip Wyoming lost both games at New Mexico and UNLV by a combined seven points.
“Its a huge win,” said Nance. “We’ve been right there within two points of a three game winning streak. Its nice to finally get over the hump.”
Wyoming was quickly in hole down 11-4 before the first media timeout. That is when the Cowboys switched to a zone defense to try and combat the Aztecs’ size advantage.
“We switched to zone because I got so upset that they were offense rebounding,” said Shyatt. “It broke their rhythm a bit and made them into a perimeter shooting team instead of a driving and foul shooting team.”
Wyoming was still out-rebounded in the game 38-25 but were able to hold San Diego State to 38 percent shooting from the field. The Cowboys on the other hand shot 58 percent from the field and 22 of their baskets came on 13 assists.
Wyoming also held San Diego State’s leading scorer Xavier Thames to just 13 points on 3-of-16 shooting and 0-of-8 from behind the arc.
“He is the best player in our league,” said Shyatt. “He is a great player and a great young man.”
Besides Grabau scoring in double figures, Nance also chipped in with 14 points.
“That just speaks to the strength of our team,” said Hankerson. “Overall, we have so many guys who can step up and make plays.”
For the Aztecs, junior forward Dwayne Pollee II had a team high 15 points. JJ O’Brien contributed with 11. Finally, Winston Shepard and Josh Davis each scored 10.
Wyoming held San Diego Sate to zero fast break points, making SDSU the 14th team this season the Pokes have not allowed to gain points on the run.
There is no better feeling,” said Grabau. “The fans came out and they won us the game.”
“Its like a good bottle of wine,” said Shyatt. “It gets better with age, this one was better than the one 16 years ago.”
Tuesday’s win makes Shyatt 2-0 versus top-five teams in his career at Wyoming. Shyatt’s other victory came against Utah in 1998.
Scouts from both the San Antonio Spurs and Denver Nuggets were in attendance Tuesday night, likely to examine Thames, Nance and Pollee.
The Cowboys return to action on Saturday at San Jose State. Tip-off is set for 3:05 p.m.
