The losing streak continues for the boys in brown and gold as they lost to Utah State Wednesday night in the Arena-Auditorium. With the loss, the Cowboys moved to 12-12 overall and 5-6 in conference play. The Pokes have not won a game since beating Air Force on the road in January.
Despite the loss, Wyoming head coach Jeff Linder liked the effort he saw from his squad.
“[I’m] proud of our guys’ effort. [They] played really hard for the most part and executed the game plan.,” he said.
Wyoming had a strong first half, outscoring Mountain West leader Utah State 43-39. Unfortunately, Utah State came out of the locker room firing on all cylinders in the second half. The Aggies were able to sink 61 percent of their shots while the Cowboys struggled. Utah State held Wyoming to 41.8 percent from the field on the night, but the Pokes managed to knock down nine threes. The Cowboys out-rebounded Utah State (38-32), and committed fewer turnovers (eight).
Brendan Wenzel and Sam Griffin led the Cowboys offense. Wenzel scored 24 points and Griffin contributed with 18 of his own. Cam Manyawu led the team in rebounding with 11, four of those being offensive and seven being defensive. For the Aggies, Darius Brown scored 24 points and led the team in rebounding with eight.
Linder believes the loss was a matter of discipline and mental errors.
“They [Utah State] have a little bit more discipline and effort than most of the teams in the league,” he said. “As the game went on, just some of our mental errors or ability to guard the ball allowed them to shoot 61 percent in the second half.”
The Cowboys hit the road and will be looking to snap the three-game losing skid as they take on San Jose State. Tip off is set for 8 p.m on Saturday, Feb. 17.
