The star of the show was Brad Jones, who contributed to Wyoming’s 74-63 win in host of ways. He was the leading scorer with 19 points, racked up eight rebounds and was a big closing force at the end of a very close match, hitting all 11 of his free throw attempts. Here, he makes a move on a Buffalo defender to get to the basket.
He finished 4-of-10 from the field but really helped spark the Pokes’ offense from the field in the first half—when Wyoming went up by 20 points—hitting three of his first four shots.
And like usual, the 6-foot-1 guard helped out the team’s big men inside, finishing third in the game in rebounds. Through the Cowboys first seven games this season, Jones is second on the team in points (14.9 ppg), second in steals (with seven), second in assists (4.1 apg), second in rebounds (6.6), first in free throws made (45) and free throws attempted (59), first in 3-point percentage (58.3 %) and second in minutes played (36.0).
The Pokes may not have pulled out the victory without him last night; he sunk six free throws and pulled in a clutch defensive rebound in the final minute of the game—a minute that saw the Cowboys’ lead grow from three points to nine.
Ryan Dermody’s performance was every bit as valuable. For most of the night, he had the difficult assignment of guarding CU’s much-hyped NBA prospect, Richard Roby, who got outplayed by Dermody in nearly every facet of the game. Dermody held the Buffaloes’ star to 10 points on just 3-of-11 shooting while finishing as the Pokes’ second-leading scorer himself, chipping in 18 to the winning cause.
He was also second on the team in rebounds, with nine, and he held Roby to just seven boards on the night.
Wyoming’s big men seemed to have their way with the Buffs’ smaller lineup. Travis Nelson contributed 12 points, and Joseph Taylor was the leading rebounder with 12 boards. Nelson camps in the paint here—and finds the basket.
And Taylor pulls in a tough rebound here.
Brandon Ewing didn’t have his best night from the field, but, as usual, the Cowboys’ leading scorer found other ways to put up solid numbers. He followed up his all-conference performance in the Pokes’ last home game with a 12-point, six-assist, two-steal outing yesterday. He makes a move on a defender here to slice his way through the defense on a sweet scoring drive.
His quickness was a bit too much for the frustrated CU guards. With his stroke a bit off (he finished 3-of-11 from the floor), he found his way to the free throw line four times on the night.
The Pokes fired right out of the chute at the start of the game and ended the first half with a 20-point lead that was too much for CU to overcome. The Cowboys did begin to lose their edge in the second half, however, and the Buffaloes managed to pull within three points late in the game. Wyoming held on with solid late-game free throw shooting. Still, Marcus Hall gave UW some trouble on the offensive end, putting up 17 points and dishing out four dimes.
As much as they have struggled on the road this season, the Pokes have not failed to please the crowd in the Arena Auditorium. For the Cowboy basketball squad, there really is no place like home. They remain perfect when playing in the Dome of Doom—even against Colorado, a Big 12 school that was considered to be an imposing opponent coming into the game. Wyoming coaches and players were excited to host a more polished team in Laramie, and the postgame talk amongst them was that this could be a preview of what to expect in conference play.
UW fans won’t have a problem with that. A perfect season at home would surely be something to cheer about.
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