February 24, 2022 — In a contest that featured two of the top offensive teams in the Mountain West, the defense took center stage with the Cowboys falling short 61-55 at Colorado State on Wednesday evening. Wyoming was held to 34 percent from the field in falling to 22-5 overall and 11-3 in the conference. CSU, who shot just 39 percent in the contest, is 12-4 in the MW and 22-4 overall.
“Those are two well-coached teams,” Wyoming Head Coach Jeff Linder said. “Those are two teams that people like to talk about offense. The reason we have the records we have is because we can sit down and guard.”
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Drake Jeffries led the Pokes with 22 points on 6-of-15 from behind the arc. The nation’s highest-scoring duo of Hunter Maldonado (4 points) and Graham Ike (8 points) were held to 12 total points on the night.
CSU led at the end of the first half, 31-27. Jeremiah Oden would hit a basket with 15:09 to play to tie the contest at 35-35 with 15:09 to play, but the Pokes could never gain the outright lead.
Jefferies hit a three-point shot with 3:42 to go to bring the Cowboys to within one, 54-53, at the 3:42 mark. But baskets by the Rams David Roddy and Chandler Jacobs increased the CSU lead back to six, 59-53, with just over two minutes the play.
Ike hit a pair of free throws with 1:40 remaining making it a four-point game. The Pokes defense got a stop, but Jeffries would miss a three-point attempt and free throws from the Rams late would push Colorado State to the victory.
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The Rams were led by Roddy with 26 points on the night on 8-of-13 shooting. He also added 11 rebounds for the Rams. Jacobs added 18 points off the bench.
The Cowboys return to action on Saturday, hosting Nevada at 6 p.m. in the Arena-Auditorium. The game will be broadcast on WyoRadio’s 99.7 JACK-FM and streamed at 99KSIT.com beginning at 5:30 p.m.
