Cowboys dominate Bulldogs to end regular season

"We did an unbelievable job in terms of following the game plan and coach (Ken) DeWeese's scout," UW coach Jeff Linder told KFBC Radio. "... Our collective discipline and effort, especially on the defensive end, was outstanding."

The Cowboys opened the game on a 7-0 run, including a personal 5-0 run from Mason Walters. The senior forward went into the game having missed 22 of his past 23 3-point attempts, but was 2-of-3 in the first half beyond the arc to boost UW to an early double-digit lead.

The Cowboys built their lead to 13 with another 8-0 run at the midway point of the first half. UW also put together runs of 7-0 and 8-0 in the last 10 minutes of the first frame to extend its lead to 16 going into the halftime break.

The runs were made possible by a 19-of-30 (63.3%) shooting clip from the Cowboys in the first half, including a 4-of-11 (45.5%) mark from 3-point range. The Bulldogs couldn't keep up offensively, shooting just 11-of-29 (39.3%) from the field through the opening 20 minutes.

UW's momentum carried over into the second half, as the Cowboys came out of the locker room with another 7-0 run to extend their lead to 23 with just over 18 minutes left to play. It was all UW the rest of the way.

The Cowboys' largest lead of night was 41 with 3 minutes, 47 seconds left. The Bulldogs couldn't buy a bucket in the second half, shooting just 5-of-28 (17.9%) from the field while being held to 17 points in the final 20 minutes.

"That was the message at halftime: Let's really come out and set the tone here in the first four minutes, just like we did against Air Force," Linder said. "... We did a really good job of just continuing to get stops defensively and did a really good job of just shortening the game and getting to what we needed to offensively to really just dictate the tempo.

"It was a really good job. It was a really mature effort by our group. We looked like a good team today."

UW had four players finish with double-digit points, including Akuel Kot (17), Walters (14), Brendan Wenzel (13) and Sam Griffin (10). The Cowboys finished the night 35-of-61 (57.4%) from the field and 11-of-26 (42.3%) from deep. UW out-rebounded the Bulldogs 41-29 and outscored them 44-22 in the paint.

The Cowboys and Bulldogs will rematch in the first round of the MW tournament as the No. 8 and 9 seeds, respectively. UW and Fresno State play at noon Wednesday in Las Vegas.

"You can't look at what the final score was today knowing that, once you get to the conference tournament, it's a different deal," Linder said. "But I'm really pleased with how we're trending in the right direction, especially on the defensive end of the floor.

"I thought we had a really good poise about us offensively in understanding what we were trying to do, and you can see that in the final numbers."

WYOMING 86, FRESNO ST. 47

Fresno State: Hill 3-15 0-0 6, Boakye 0-4 2-4 2, Pope 3-5 1-2 9, Colimerio 2-5 2-3 7, DuSell 2-10 0-0 6, Taveras 1-4 3-5 5, Weaver 5-9 2-4 12, Robinson 0-2 0-0 0, Vasquez Jr. 0-1 0-0 0, Geneste Jr. 0-1 0-0 0. Totals: 16-56 10-18 47.

Wyoming: Wenzel 5-8 0-0 13, Griffin 4-8 0-0 10, Kot 6-9 2-2 17, Walters 6-10 0-0 14, Powell 4-6 0-0 8, Newton 1-7 0-0 3, Manyawu 4-4 1-2 9, Combs 2-3 2-2 6, Kojenets 2-3 0-0 4, Theodosiou 0-1 0-0 0, Roberson 1-2 0-0 2. Totals: 35-61 5-6 86.

Halftime: Wyoming 46-30. 3-pointers: FSU 5-16 (Hill 0-5, Pope 2-2, Colimerio 1-1, DuSell 2-4, Taveras 0-1, Weaver 0-1, Robinson 0-1, Vasquez Jr. 0-1); UW 11-26 (Wenzel 3-5, Griffin 2-6, Kot 3-5, Walters 2-3, Newton 1-6, Combs 0-1). Rebounds: FSU 29 (Pope 6), UW 41 (Walters 9). Assists: FSU 8 (Hill 7), UW 18 (Griffin 5, Walters 5). Turnovers: FSU 8 (Hill 4), UW 9 (Walters 3). Blocked shots: FSU 5 (Boakye 3), UW 4 (Four players with 4). Steals: FSU 6 (Boakye 2), UW 4 (Walters 2). Personal fouls: FSU 13, UW 18.

Attendance: 4,395.