(Laramie, WY) – The Wyoming Cowboys could not slow down the high paced offense of the Boise State Broncos falling on Wednesday evening in the Arena-Auditorium by a score of 90-70. The Pokes fall to 7-4 overall and 1-3 in the conference with the Broncos winning their school record 12th straight game and move to 12-1 overall and 8-0 in the MW.
“I thought our response was tremendous tonight,” Linder said. “To only have seven players available and to not have a post player tonight even when we got down I thought the kids really competed. As I told them in the locker room, we don’t ever want to get used to losing, but I wanted them to learn from the experience of playing against a team of the caliber of Boise State and to compete to the end. To understand how hard we had to fight on the defensive end and then offensively the effort you have to make to space properly, to back cut, to create easy baskets, to make the extra pass — we’re going to continue to build ourselves into a good team. Sometimes you have to experience some of these things against a good team in order to move forward. You don’t learn until you see it and feel it, and we’ll get better from it.”
The Pokes were led by junior Hunter Maldonado with 17 points for his 10th game in double-figures this season and 49th of his career. He also added nine rebounds for the Pokes and three assists. Freshman Jeremiah Oden added 10 points for his fourth game in double-figures this season. Freshman Marcus Williams added 13 points off the bench and has scored in double-figures in every game this season. Sophomore Kwane Marble II added 10 points for his fourth game in double-figures this season.
Wyoming was held to 39 percent from the field for the night, as the Broncos shot 54 percent. Boise State scored 52 points in the paint, as Wyoming played without big man Hunter Thompson. Both teams also shot 90 percent from the free throw line for the night with the Pokes getting 14 attempts and BSU getting 23.
“I told our guys that our guards probably have to be our best rebounders,” Linder said. “Our guards have to get in on the defensive glass and rebound. I thought it was a group effort tonight to improve in that area. When you get stops and secure the rebound, then you’re able to get out in transition. We’re building the right habits. In the second half tonight, I thought we found ways to win stretches of the game because we pushed through when we were tired. We weren’t able to do that in the second half on Monday.”
Boise State hit their first three shots of the contest to take an early 9-6 lead on the Cowboys in the opening three minutes of action. Wyoming got three-pointers from Maldonado and Marble II.
After Maldonado made it a 9-8 contest, the Broncos went on a 5-0 run thanks to Derrick Alston Jr. to make it a 14-8 game with 15:55 left in the half, but the run was shut down on an alley-oop slam from junior Drake Jeffries seconds later.
Boise State opened the game 8-of-10 from the floor to build a 21-12 advantage. Marcus Shaver added an and-one play to build the lead to 26-12 with 12:09 left in the opening frame. After the Broncos built the lead to 13-points at 30-17, Jeffries added a triple to make it a 10-point contest with 9:39 left in the half.
Wyoming would go scoreless for over four minutes, as the Broncos built the lead to 16-points at 38-22 with just over six minutes left in the half. Boise State continued the pressure on the Pokes and took a 55-33 lead at the break.
Freshman Jeremiah Oden and sophomore Kenny Foster added baskets for a 57-37 Boise State lead in the early goings of the second half. Boise State would hit three-straight field goals and build their advantage to 66-43 with 14:30 left in the game.
Wyoming cut the deficit to 19-points on back-to-buckets from Maldonado and Williams, but Boise State answered with a three-pointer and a layup. The Broncos would maintain the 20-point advantage halfway through the half, but the lead was cut to 19-points on a DuSell three-pointer for a 79-60 contest with 7:10 remaining.
The Pokes made it an 81-64 game holding Boise State without a basket for nearly four minutes with Williams and Foster leading the charge for the Brown and Gold. But The Pokes could not break into the Boise State lead anymore falling 90-70.
The Broncos were led by six players in double-figures including all five starters. Devonair Doutrive led the way with 17 points. Abu Kigab added 15 points and guard RayJ Dennis added 14 points and led the team with seven rebounds.
The Cowboys are back in action on Saturday heading to the Air Force Academy to take on the Falcons in a 2 p.m. start on the Mountain West Network.
—– COWGIRLS ———–
The Wyoming Cowgirls’ comeback came up short Wednesday afternoon on the road at Boise State as the Broncos topped the Cowgirls, 68-62. Boise State (8-1, 5-1 MW) ended the game on a 12-5 run the final 2:36 of the game after Wyoming (4-5, 2-4 MW) took a 57-56 lead with 3:45 left to play off of an Alba Sanchez Ramos 3-pointer.
Sanchez Ramos led the Cowgirls with 17 points in the loss. Sanchez Ramos went 7-of-12 from the floor while hitting a pair of 3-pointers, grabbing six rebounds and dishing-out two assists. McKinley Bradshaw provided another spark of the bench in the series for UW as she scored 14 points on 5-for-8 and 2-for-2 from 3-point range and also pulled down six boards. Dagny Davidsdottir chipped in with 12 points to go along with six boards and a steal.
Wyoming shot 35.5 percent (22-62) overall and went 7-for-19 (36.8 percent) from 3-point range while the Broncos went 24-for-53 (45.3 percent) from the field and hit 3-of-11 (27.3 percent) from beyond-the-arc. Boise, who went to the free-throw line a lot late, went 17-for-21 at the stripe while the Cowgirls were 11-of-14.
After a big disadvantage on the glass Monday, the Cowgirls out-rebounded BSU Wednesday, 35-34 and grabbed 10 offensive rebounds, leading to 14 second-chance points while Boise got six points off second chances. Wyoming also had a 28-22 edge in points in the paint.
“We had some shots that didn’t go in and to their credit, they made some plays and ran some sets that got them a couple baskets,” said Head Coach Gerald Mattinson postgame.
“I’m really happy with what we did and the way we played on the offensive end. We had a lot of good, open looks, we left some points on the table.”
Wyoming got off to a better start in Wednesday’s loss than in the prior contest with the Broncos, leading 14-10 after one quarter. In the second quarter, however, the Broncos shot 55 percent and outscored the Cowgirls 22-12 in the frame and took a 32-26 lead into halftime.
In the second half, BSU opened with a 3-pointer to go up 35-28 before the Cowgirls went on a quick 9-1 run to cut the deficit to 36-35 with 6:43 left to play after a Tommi Olson bucket in the paint. UW would eventually take its first lead of the half with 4:12 to go, 41-40, off a layup by Bradshaw. The Broncos would get a pair of free throws to end the third and led 46-44 to go into the final 10 minutes with the lead.
The Cowgirls would keep much of the fourth quarter within a bucket or two but took its only lead in the frame off the Sanchez Ramos 3-pointer. Jade Loville gave Boise State the lead back with a pair at the free-throw line with 2:36 left to play and was the first of 10 made free throws for the Broncos down the stretch to help them keep the lead. Trailing 58-57, Wyoming turned the ball over on three consecutive possessions down the stretch and enabled Boise State to lengthen the lead to 62-57 with 30 seconds left to play. Sanchez Ramos was able to get a couple of buckets in the waning seconds but Boise kept the Cowgirls at arms’ length with free throws.
“I love our kids’ heart, we fought until the very end. Boise State is first in the conference, they defended home cout, but I think they know that they were in a battle until the very end again. I’m not happy with the loss don’t get me wrong, but I told them ‘we got to let this one go and get ready for Air Force tomorrow'” said Mattinson.
Wyoming will have a quick turnaround as it continues its stretch of four games in eight days as the Cowgirls get set to host Air Force January 16 and 18 at the AA. Saturday’s game is set for a 2 p.m., tip while Monday’s contest will be at 6:30.