Cowboys knock off Northern Colorado Bears in Casper

The Wyoming Cowboys made the most of their trip up to Casper for BlueCross BlueShield of Wyoming Shootout. The Cowboys improved to 5-4 with a tough 76-70 victory over Northern Colorado tonight.

Leading scorer Afam Muojeke returned for the Cowboys after missing the last two weeks with a knee injury.  His 15 points led the Cowboys but was largely ineffective for most game shooting just 2 for 11 from the field. With the game on the line the Pokes but ball in Muojeke's hands and Northern Colorado kept putting him on the line. With eight free throws in the final minute from Muojeke the Cowboys secured the victory.

Adam Waddell and Jaydee Luster had several big plays in the second half to keep the Pokes ahead. Luster had several steals that led to Cowboy scores.  Luster finished with 5 points 7 rebounds and 3 assists and 3 steals. Despite being in foul trouble most of the game Waddell finished with 13 points and a team high 9 rebounds in just 20 minutes.  Clutch boards and free throws from Waddell kept the Bears from coming back.

Northern Colorado (8-2) started the game with an 8-0 run but couldn't hold on as Wyoming stormed back to take a 38-25 halftime lead.  Devon Beitzel got hot in the second half scoring 21 of his 25 points including five 3's to lead the Bears.  Chris Kaba had 18 points off the bench and was the second leading scorer in the game.

Big contributions from the bench tonight as the Pokes had 39 points from the non starters.  Desmar Jackson had 8 of his 11 points in the first half.

Wyoming has now won three in a row after dropping their three prior games.  Next up the Cowboys travel to Knoxville, Tennessee on Tuesday to take on the #9 ranked Tennessee Volunteers.