Justin Long
jlong25@uwyo.edu
Despite trailing at halftime, the Cowboys men’s basketball team used an 18-2 run in the second half to defeat Colorado Christian University 67-60 on Dec. 5 in the Arena-Auditorium.
Junior forward Alan Herndon had 15 points to lead the Pokes, while senior guard Jason McManamen pitched in 10 points. The Cowboys held Colorado Christian to 29 percent from the field and grabbed 51 rebounds on the night, led by junior Hayden Dalton and his eight.
“We ended with the win at the end of the day,” UW head coach Allen Edwards said. “I told the guys that they need to prepare and I also tried to get them to understand Colorado Christian is a very good basketball team. I thought it could have been tough to guard CCU at times and I thought the guys didn’t have the energy and excitement in the first half, but we responded well in the second.”
The Cowboys came into the game third in the Mountain West and 51st in the country in opponent field goal percentage, and they held the Cougars to the second-lowest field goal percentage by a UW opponent. It was also the first time the Pokes recorded over 50 rebounds in a game since Dec. 2008, when they recorded 56 against Houston Baptist.
As a team, UW shot 37 percent (22-60) from the field, and 26 percent (8-31) from the three-point line. The Cowboys held Colorado Christian to 22 percent (6-27) from three-point land.
The Pokes raced out to a 10-3 lead early in the first half, paced by all five starters scoring two points. The Cougars battled back to tie the game while UW went 0-10 from three, then Colorado Christian hit four straight free-throws to make the score 26-22.
“(Colorado Christian) was definitely in us on defense, and for a while it seemed like we didn’t know what to do,” Herndon said. “We didn’t have the edge we needed on defense.”
The Cowboys continued their cold shooting into the second half, allowing CCU to go on a 7-0 run to build their largest lead of the game at 37-29. The Cowboys fought back with a 10-2 run to tie the game at 39.
The Pokes continued their run 18-2 to build their lead to 48-39 with less than 11 minutes left in the game. UW built their lead to 11 before Colorado Christian made a run late, but it was too little, too late as the Cowboys took the victory.
The Cowboys return to action on Dec. 10, playing Montana at 4 p.m. in the Arena-Auditorium.
