The Cowboys forced 21 San Jose State turnovers en route to a 74-62 victory over the Spartans on Senior Night.
Before the game, Jason McManamen and Morris Marshall were honored for their contributions to UW, with Marshall making his first career start.
Sophomore guard, and Mountain West Sixth Man of the Year, Justin James led the Pokes with 15 points on 7-8 free throw shooting. Junior Al Herndon added 13 points as Wyoming (18-13 overall, 8-10 Mountain West) clinched the seventh seed for the MW Tournament that starts March 8 in Las Vegas.
“One of the things we talked to our guys about entering this game was looking at today as the start of the Mountain West Conference Tournament,” head coach Allen Edwards said. “This game was a must win in terms of positioning ourselves for the tournament either as the seven seed, with a win, or the nine seed.”
McManamen finished the game with nine points off of three triples, which has given the all-time leader in three-point shots 197 for his career. The Pokes shot 50 percent from the field and 52 percent from behind the arc.
San Jose State’s 21 turnovers were the most the Pokes have forced all season, and the Spartans finished the game shooting 44 percent from the field after shooting 57 percent in the first half. SJSU outrebounded the Cowboys 36-25 on the afternoon.
UW used an 8-0 run to take a 23-17 lead with 9:05 left in the first half, but SJSU used a 9-2 run to take the lead right back. The Pokes responded with a 9-3 run that gave UW the 36-31 lead they took into half.
The Pokes built a 46-40 lead with just under 15 minutes left in the game, but San Jose State continued to battle and brought the score to 56-53 with three minutes left. Threes by McManamen, Hayden Dalton, and Cody Kelley helped push the Pokes to a 12-point lead that they turned into the 74-62 win.
“Obviously tonight was also about two guys who have contributed in their own separate ways to our program. I love Morris (Marshall) to death — a tremendous kid and one of our best guys in terms of motivating his teammates, but injuries have stopped him from contributing on the court as much as he could have,” Edwards said. “Jason (McManamen), a Wyoming kid who has been here five years and is going down as the all-time three-point shots made record holder, which I think is really special.”
Seventh seeded Wyoming will play 10th seeded Air Force on March 8 at the Thomas & Mack Center in Las Vegas to open the Mountain West tournament.
