With 14:38 remaining in the Wyoming Cowboys’ matchup against the Fresno State Bulldogs, the Cowboys were cruising offensively and looked to be running away with the contest with a 13 point lead at 49-36.
Then, unfathomably, the Cowboys’ went six and a half minutes without scoring. Even throughout that painful six and a half minute, the Bulldogs were only able to draw within six of the Cowboys before Jordan Nesbitt cashed in a triple to make it 52-43 in favor of the Cowboys with eight minutes remaining in the contest. The Cowboys would even extend that lead to 10 with seven minutes left to go.
Certainly that would shut the door on a Bulldogs’ comeback, right?
Wrong.
A 7-0 run would draw the Bulldogs within three. The Cowboys and Cole Henry would push back for a moment, but that run quickly extended to a 16-2 run that would give the Bulldogs their largest lead at 65-61 in the contest since they led 7-2 in the opening minutes.
The outlook on the Cowboys ending their three game losing streak at home wasn’t bright at this point. The Cowboys had squandered away their 13 point lead and all the momentum was on the side of the Bulldogs. Dontaie Allen, though, would hit a triple to draw the Cowboys within one. A pair of free throws extended the lead out to three with 20 seconds remaining.
Certainly the Bulldogs–who had only four fouls in the entire second half to this point–would foul up three to keep the Cowboys from tying the game up, right?
Wrong, again.
With 12 seconds remaining, Nesbitt would hoist up a game-tying attempt that would ricochet off the rim. In a sudden turn of luck–or fate, even–the Cowboys were rewarded a jump ball with the possession arrow on their side on the offensive rebound attempt. With just seven seconds remaining, there was no doubt who would be taking the game-tying shot for the Cowboys, and with the time winding down, Obi Agbim–who was in foul trouble for much of the second half–would drive his defender to the elbow, then smoothly juke back behind the three point arc, releasing the ball with just a second remaining on the clock.
Swish.
https://t.co/YYfvf5Vfe2 pic.twitter.com/OAyyE5IN4t
— Wyoming Cowboy Basketball (@wyo_mbb) January 29, 2025
“[Obi] better take that shot every time, that’s what he do,” an emphatic Nesbitt claimed postgame. “He just worked on that last night, so I knew it was going in.”
“I’d be a bad coach if I didn’t let one of the most efficient players in the United States of America take that shot,” head coach Sundance Wicks joked postgame.
Agbim would then take full control of the second half, cashing in on a pair of triples to help heave the Cowboys over the Bulldogs by a final score of 83-72.
That win was anything but pretty for the Cowboys. Yet again, have any of their conference wins been a masterpiece?
There were an abundance of turnovers on both ends of the floor–33 of them, to be exact, 18 of which were pitched in by the Cowboys. A scrappy Bulldog squad that was heavily undersized outrebounded the Cowboys by three and grabbed 18 offensive rebounds that led to 11 second chance points.
“We played small tonight and gave up a lot of offensive rebounds, 18 offensive rebounds killed us,” Wicks noted postgame.
“Going against the zone, we don’t really practice against it all year, we don’t really prepare for it. So, it’s kind of a lot of casual passes that they’re anticipating because that’s what they work on, and they’ve been working on it for a long time,” Agbim added of the Cowboys’ turnover troubles.
Still, a couple of things in the box score were in no need of a makeover, particularly the Cowboys’ 17 made triples in the contest, the most since the Cowboys made an unfathomable 28 threes against Hastings College in 2021. The Cowboys also finished with 23 assists on 28 made field goals.
“We don’t make 17 threes if we’re not playing small, and to that point, we don’t have 23 assists on 28 made shots,” Wicks said. “So, there’s good and bad with the way we played tonight.”
🏀 Highlights from @wyo_mbb's 83-72 overtime win at home over Fresno State pic.twitter.com/HCgyRpo4iQ
— Mountain West (@MountainWest) January 29, 2025
Kobe Newton led the way for the Cowboys and was a big spark off the bench, as he finished his night with a team-high 18 points and was paced by Agbim with 17 points. Nesbitt and Allen rounded out the scorers in double figures with 14 and 10, respectively. Nesbitt also finished with 10 rebounds for his eight double-double this season.
The unlikely hero of the game may have been Henry, however, as he finished with an eye-popping +21 in the box score, playing the most minutes of any game he’s ever played in his five year career, and came up with some clutch baskets late in the second half to allow Agbim to tie the contest at the very end. He was also Wicks’ key in breaking the zone, as his court vision in the middle of the zone allowed him to lead this Cowboys in assists and allotted the Cowboys plenty of open threes–which they knocked down at a high 47.2% clip.
“Cole, he’s my comfort blanket,” Wicks said. “I just trust his decision making in there, right? That’s the big thing.”
The Cowboys will certainly have to play better in their next outing, however, as they travel to San Diego to take on the San Diego State Aztecs in one of their most difficult conference matchups to date. However, if the Cowboys can shoot the ball as efficiently as they did tonight, then you can certainly pencil them in to have a shot in this one.
“Nobody quits in this league. You can’t count anybody out around here,” Wicks said.
“Can’t count us out either. We’re fighting for it every single day.”
