The University of Wyoming (UW) men’s basketball team won their final game of the season against Fresno State.
In one of their best performances of the season, the Cowboys beat Fresno State 86-47 on the road. With the win, the Cowboys finished the regular season with a 15-16 overall record and 8-10 in the conference, putting them 8th in the Mountain West.
The Pokes shot 57 percent from the field and made 42 percent of their three point shots. Wyoming out rebounded Fresno State 41-29 on the day and Akuel Kot led the team in scoring with 17 points. Head coach Jeff Linder expressed his excitement about his team's performance during their last game of the season.
“I’m really pleased with how we’re trending in the right direction, especially on the defense and the board. I thought we had a really good poise about us, offensively understanding what we were trying to do and you can see that in the final numbers,” he said.
Wyoming started with a strong first half, scoring 46 points and holding a 16 point lead over Fresno State going into halftime. The pokes shot over 60 percent in the first half while holding Fresno State to only 40 percent from the field.
The Pokes started the second half with a 7-0 run giving them a 26 point advantage (56-30). The Cowboys kept the momentum and remained in control for the second half of the contest.
“I thought we did an unbelievable job following the game plan tonight,” Linder said. “Our collective discipline and effort, especially on the defensive end, was outstanding.”
Wyoming had some notable wins on the season beating Nevada and Colorado State, both of those teams made the NCAA tournament. They also had some notable losses against Saint Louis, Portland, Weber State, and the University of Texas-El Paso (UTEP). Despite those losses, the Pokes managed to find their groove in a tough Mountain West Conference and win 8 games.
