Junior forward Larry Nance Jr. kicked off Wednesday night’s game between the UW Cowboys and the Fresno State Bulldogs with a dunk to give the Pokes a 2-0 lead, but from there the Bulldogs were largely in control.
The Cowboys, who were down by as much as 11, mounted a comeback effort in the second half, but ultimately fell 67-62 against the Bulldogs on the road Wednesday night, ending their four-game winning streak in Mountain West play.
The loss brings Wyoming’s record to 13-7 overall and 4-3 in the conference.
“My biggest disappointment tonight was missing free throws,” UW head coach Larry Shyatt said. “You don’t think about them when you are making them, but that really shines in this particular game. You can’t give away eight to 10 points like that on the road. We made some bad decisions on offense in the first half and weren’t playing like we normally play. Loose balls were also disappointing. I thought they beat us to about five or six loose balls that really hurt us, particularly that last offensive rebound.”
Nance led the Cowboys with 20 points—his fifth 20-point performance of the season. Junior guard Riley Grabau, who recorded 14 points in the contest, followed Nance in the scoring column.
The Bulldogs took control for most of the first half, and led 26-19 with five minutes remaining. Nance recorded eight points to keep the Pokes in it, and they eventually inched to within four of the Bulldogs before Fresno State hit a three to close out the half with a 33-26 lead.
The Cowboys switched to a zone defense entering the second half and hit a 16-3 run to take their second lead of the game 44-42 with just over 12 minutes left in the game.
From there, the Bulldogs came back to take a slim lead. The game was close from then to the end. Nance hit two free throws to bring the Pokes to within four with 55 seconds to play.
Fresno State scored on the other end after that, but a three from senior guard Nathan Sobey kept the Cowboys in the game. FSU made a pair of free throws to ice the game and take a 67-62 win.
Wyoming lost the rebound battle to Fresno State, 30-26, and shot 48 percent from the field (23-of-48). Wednesday night was the first time in three games the Pokes have shot under 50 percent.
Wyoming returns to the floor Saturday at home in the Arena Auditorium, where they will take on the Utah State Aggies at 4 p.m.
