Cowboys drop heartbreaker

Wyoming-Boise State boxscore

BOISE, Idaho -- Missed free throws and a missed opportunity for the Wyoming Cowboys Wednesday night.

Boise State’s Mark Sanchez scored a layup in the final second to give Boise State an 86-85 win over the Cowboys.

The victory kept the Broncos (5-1) undefeated in five home games, while Wyoming (5-1) dropped its first game of the season.

Sanchez's winning basket came off an inbounds pass from Anthony Thomas with nine tenths of a second left. Sanchez finished with 24 points and nine rebounds.

Wyoming had taken an 85-84 lead with 24 seconds left when red shirt freshman Adam Waddell put in a loose ball and was fouled. Waddell, however, missed the free throw, setting up the Broncos chance for the game-winner.

“We worked on out-of-bounds plays for three days, and they ran the same out-of-bounds play that we had worked on for three days,” Wyoming head coach Heath Schroyer said on the Cowboy Sports Network. “We never switched on the out-of-bounds play, and for whatever reason, we wanted to switch and gave up a layup on baseline out of bounds.

Wyoming missed 13 free throws in the game (21-of-34), while Boise State missed 6-of-7 in the final five minutes.

“We made plays when we had to and we got to the line 34 times, which was great,” Schroyer said. “But you can’t miss 13 free throws and expect to win.”

The Cowboys came out red-hit behind the outside shooting of Sean Ogirri, leading 15-2. Ogirri scored 17 of his team-high 22 points in the first half, as Wyoming led 49-40 at halftime.

Former Cowboy Ike Okoye added a career-high 21 points and 12 rebounds for Boise State, while Thomas and Paul Noonan both finished with 15 points.

Afam Muojeke and Tyson Johnson each scored 17 points for the Cowboys. Brandon Ewing added 14 points and, Adam Waddell had nine points and 10 rebounds.

The Cowboys will look to bounce back Saturday night in Los Angeles when they face Loyola Marymount, beginning at 8 p. m.