The Wyoming men’s basketball team had their four game home winning streak snapped on Wednesday night as the Pokes fell to the Fresno State Bulldogs 64-59. The Cowboys are now 21-7 overall and are 10-5 in the Mountain West. Entering the game Wyoming was in second place in the Mountain West but have now fallen to fourth place.
Wyoming opened the game with a five point lead. In the first 4:33 of the game the Pokes hit three 3 pointers; two coming from senior guard Riley Grabau and one coming from junior guard Josh Adams. Fresno State came back and was able to tie the game at 11-11 with 12:32 left in the half. The Bulldogs were able to grab a lead and hold onto it as the half ended. The score was 25-21 Fresno State at half. Grabau led the Cowboys in scoring with six points.
The second half began with the Cowboys able to eliminate the Bulldogs lead and take a one point lead themselves. The game went back and forth till the very end. With 2:19 left in the game Fresno State had a five point lead. Josh Adams was able to bring the Pokes within two with a 3 ball. Wyoming got a steal from senior Larry Nance Jr. who passed it to senior Charles Hankerson Jr. He was then fouled. With 50 seconds left in the game Hankerson was sent to the free throw line with a chance to tie the game. He missed both. After some fouling and timeouts the Cowboys lost 64-59.
Wyoming committed 14 turnovers and Fresno State was able to convert those into 17 points. Josh Adams led the Cowboys in scoring with 22 points. The leading scorer for the Bulldogs was Marvelle Harris with 23 points. Larry Nance Jr. returned for the first in four game and played 37 minutes.
Head Coach Larry Shyatt on the game:
“I thought that Fresno came in here and played better than us. I thought they played extremely hard tonight. The two key statistics that playing hard affects is offensive rebounding — they were quicker to the ball, more aggressive to the ball — and the second stat is they are seventh in the nation in steals and they forced 14 turnovers by us.”
Shyatt on the biggest factor for the loss:
“We were 8 for 13 from the foul line in the second half. We were up two with four minutes to go. If we close the game out like we have so many times, we win the game by two or three. Last but not least, some incredible turnovers. It was very disappointing to see the ball taken away from us. That is a level of toughness.”
Josh Adams on how Fresno State plays:
“They are a scrappy team on defense just like we are. They want to fight, get in a dog fight that is what they are used to, just like us. Tonight they did it a little bit better.”
Larry Nance Jr. on the reason they lost:
“They played tougher than us, it was not just the turnovers. I mean, they had something to do with a lot on those, but offensive rebounds, beating us on the glass obviously, driving us hard in the lane, they just played tougher than us tonight.”
