Wyoming’s bench sparked a big run that propelled the Cowboys to their 61-46 victory over Western State Tuesday night in Laramie.
The Cowboys were down 12-4 early on and head coach Larry Shyatt called a time out and substituted four bench guys in.
“I was very disappointed in the start of the game,” Shyatt said.
The subs; freshman guard Jeremy Lieberman, redshirt sophomore guard Jason McManamen, redshirt freshman forward Alan Herndon and redshirt senior center Matt Sellers went on a 22-0 that ignited the Cowboys.
“Those guys came in down 12-4 and I thought they did a terrific job,” Shyatt said.
“They had six great stops,” senior forward Derek Cooke Jr. added.
Wyoming held a comfortable lead throughout the game in route to their victory and it was able to give their bench valuable floor time in the process.
“We were hoping to get a game were we can get some of these young kids some time,” Shyatt said.
Wyoming shot 52 percent from the field, but only managed to shoot 32 percent from 3-point range. On the defensive side the Cowboys held Western State to 34 percent shooting from the floor and 33 percent from behind the arc. The Mountaineers only made seven shots from inside the arc.
“Our interior defense is pretty good,” senior forward Larry Nance Jr. said. “We have to tighten up though we can’t give up that many 3s.”
Wyoming out-rebounded Western State 34-23.
The Cowboys matched their assist total from game one with 21 again last night. The Cowboys assisted on all but three made buckets.
“We are unselfish,” Shyatt said. “We have good guys that look for each other.”
Nance led the way for Wyoming with 13 points and eight rebounds in 23 minutes of floor time. Cooke also had 13 points and for the second consecutive game made all of his field goals. Redshirt senior guard Charles Hankerson Jr. had 11 points, six assists and four rebounds. Hankerson, over the first two games, has 11 assists and just two turnovers.
Coming off the bench was redshirt sophomore guard Jason McManamen who recorded eight points while logging 27 minutes. Also chipping in off the bench was redshirt freshman forward Alan Herndon who had seven points and six rebounds in 24 minutes.
“I think we have five, six and even seven guys that can come (off the bench) and really pick us up,” Shyatt said.
The Cowboys guard combo of junior Josh Adams and senior Riley Grabau combined to go 1-for-7 from the floor for a combined two points.
The Cowboys for the second consecutive game struggled with turnovers as they had 13.
Wyoming will play Colorado next and this will be the Cowboys stiffest test to date. The Buffs are 2-0 with wins over Drexel and Auburn by an average of 24 points per contest. Colorado is also receiving a significant amount of votes (52) in the latest AP poll as they sit at No. 27.
“We will be ready for it,” Nance said. “They are 2-0 and we are 2-0 and I see no reason why they would be thought of as better than us. We will give them a dogfight.”
The Pokes game versus Colorado will be at 4 p.m. on Saturday in the Arena-Auditorium.
“We will find out some things that we need to find out Saturday afternoon,” Shyatt said.
