Derek Cooke Jr. goes up for a dunk in the game on Saturday after- noon against Boise State.
Wyoming started off hot but cooled off fast in a 72-63 loss to Boise State on Saturday evening in the Arena-Auditorium.
Sophomore guard Josh Adams hit his first four shots and scored the teams first nine points on 3-of-3 shooting from deep to help Wyoming build a 21-4 lead at the 13:33 mark of the first half.
“Sometimes shots go in,” said Adams. “But the only stat that matters to me is the end result.”
Though Wyoming scored the game’s first 15 points, Boise State was able to respond behind senior guard Thomas Bropleh’s 20 points, 13 of which came in the first half, cutting the Wyoming lead to six, 38-32, at halftime.
“We lost our focus on defense at about the eight minute mark,” said Wyoming head coach Larry Shyatt. “Boise in the last 30 minutes looked anything but ugly.”
Boise State opened the second half on a 25-10 run to take a 57-48 lead at the 8:22 mark on a three by junior guard Igor Hadziomerovic.
“We went toe to toe to start the second half and then those two big threes took a toll,” said Shyatt.
Wyoming got down by 14 before going on a run to cut Boise State’s lead to six on a lay up by junior guard Riley Grabau with 2:46 to play.
“Proud of these guys,” said Shyatt. “Down 14 and to be able to cut it to six with 2:30 to play, but we just didn’t have enough in the tank.”
Wyoming ended up shooting 48 percent from the field, just 25 percent from behind the arc and 72 percent from the free throw line.
Boise State on the other hand shot 56 percent from the field, 50 percent from three and 77 percent from the charity stripe.
Wyoming was led by Josh Adams who had a career high 29 points. Grabau added 13 points while junior forward Derek Cooke Jr. chipped in with 11.
Boise State was led by Thomas Bropleh’s 20 points. Senior forward Ryan Watkins recorded a double-double with 14 points and 12 rebounds and redshirt sophomore guard Mikey Thompson had 14 points as well.
Wyoming was out rebounded 31-18, but only turned the ball over four times.
“Boise has ripped a lot of steals in the past few games,” said Shyatt. “We took pretty good care of the ball.”
Wyoming was without three scholarship players. Junior forward Larry Nance Jr. was out with a torn ACL, redshirt junior guard Charles Hankerson Jr. is suspended indefinitely and redshirt freshman Keonte Vernon is also suspended indefinitely.
Boise State was without their leading scorer, fourth in the conference, junior guard Anthony Drmic who rolled an ankle earlier in the week.
With the loss Wyoming falls to 8-8 in conference play which puts them in jeopardy of falling out of the top five in the conference and missing out on a first round bye in the conference tournament.
The Cowboys will now travel to Logan, Utah to take on Utah State on Wednesday. Tip-off is set for 8 p.m.
