John Luke Fabian
Jfabian1@uwyo.edu
Twitter: @HouseFabian
When it rains it pours.
The Wyoming Cowboys lost their third straight game Tuesday night to the Fresno State Bulldogs, 71-60, dropping them to 3-6 in the Mountain West and 10-12 overall.
“I feel bad for these guys because they have been in position to win a lot of games – home and away – this season,” head coach Larry Shyatt told WYO Sports. “They are learning through. But over time it will kick in, and I guarantee we will be better for it.”
Senior Josh Adams returned to the lineup after serving a one game suspension for his third technical foul of the year. Adams continued his reign of terror in the Mountain West, as he led the game in scoring with 32. He had five buckets from 3-point range and got 13 points from the charity stripe.
Wyoming started the game off well, and led for most of the first half. Five minutes left in the half, sophomore Trey Washington III hit two free throws that up the Pokes up by 12. Fresno State then caught fire and went on an 11-4 run to close out the half.
Junior guard Jason McManamen hit a three to begin the second half, to give the Cowboys a 40-33 lead. Unfortunately, Fresno State responded by scoring the next 11 points and taking the lead.
The Pokes were then in a dogfight with Fresno State for the next five minutes. Each team exchanged leads for the next couple of minutes, until one was able to get a grip on it.
The Bulldogs were able to build up a double digit lead, and keep the Cowboys at arm’s length for the rest of the game.
Wyoming shot over 50 percent from the floor and over 45 percent from 3-point range in the first half. It was a different story in the second half, where the Cowboys were shooting 20 percent.
The Pokes committed 11 turnovers in the game, and the Bulldogs were able to take advantage. FSU turned those Cowboy mishandles into 22 points.
Another area of concern for the Cowboys was the abundance of offensive rebounds the Bulldogs were able to pull down. Fresno State snagged 12 offensive rebounds and turned those into 14 second chance points.
Not only did Adams score over half of the Cowboys points, but he was the only player for the Cowboys to reach double digit scoring. Fresno State had all of their starters score over 10 points.
The Cowboys will return to Laramie on Saturday to take on Colorado State in the Border War. The game will begin at 4 p.m.
