The University of Wyoming men’s basketball team beat San Jose State University 89 – 75 this Saturday, Feb. 17, at the Arena Auditorium in Laramie.
The Cowboys put up sixteen 3-pointers, six of which were scored by senior Hayden Dalton who had 22 of the Cowboys’ 89 points. Justin James had 17 points and Al Herndon had 15 points. The Cowboys’ had six players reach double digits in scoring.
“We always love when we have a bunch of different guys being a threat out there,” senior Hayden Dalton said. “It makes it easier and puts less pressure on all of us, for sure.”
The Cowboys came out swinging with a 3-pointer from Hayden Dalton. But the lead would change six times throughout the first half, and the Cowboys were able to pull away a little bit going into the half up 45 – 37 on San Jose.
“When you see someone like HD (Hayden Dalton) start off the game hot you start feeding off of other players; it’s almost contagious,” freshman Hunter Maldonado said. “It builds our confidence every time one of us puts one in and we build off that.”
During the second half the Cowboys didn’t turn the lead over once and kept a comfortable lead over San Jose the entire rest of the game.
San Jose had four players reach double digit points. Freshman Keith Fisher III put up the most for San Jose, with 26 points. Junior Ryan Welage had the second most points for San Jose, putting up 19 which is just over his average.
“I think we did a good job covering him (Welage). I mean if you go out there and let someone put up 37 or 38 points you’re just setting yourself up for failure,” sophomore Cody Kelly said. “I think we did a great job tonight just making it tough on him. He took quite a bit of shots to get his average and that was the goal for tonight.”
With only five games left in the regular season the Cowboys are sitting at fifth place in the Mountain West and look to keep that spot going into the Mountain West tournament.
The Cowboys next game is against New Mexico this coming Tuesday, Feb. 20 at 7:00 pm MST at the Arena Auditorium in Laramie.
