Cowboys turn it on in the second half

Richard Anderson photo
Wyoming senior guard Sean Ogirri puts pressure on Sacramento States' Loren Leath on Saturday.

Wyoming-Sacramento State box score

By Richard Anderson
Wyoming Sports.org

Apparently, enough was enough.

The Cowboys kept Sacramento State around long enough before Wyoming rolled in the second half for a 93-70 win Saturday at the Arena-Auditorium.

Wyoming, 9-1 on the season, looked as if it might have played with UCLA in its sites in the first half, as the Hornets led 37-36 at halftime. The Cowboys rectified things early in the second half with an 18-4 run and never looked back.

Wyoming senior guard Brandon Ewing said the Cowboys were definitely not looking ahead to No. 12 UCLA on Tuesday.

“Sacramento State gave us their best shot. They were 1-8 coming in,” Ewing said. “They didn’t have a lot to lose, but they had a lot to gain by coming in here and getting a big road win. We took their best shot well, we took it as men and came out with the win."

As is usually the case when a team struggles at times and trails at halftime, there was a little talking going on in the locker room. Nothing loud, but then again, the Cowboys said they don’t have to get into anybody’s faces.

“This is a real relaxed team,” Ewing said. “We don’t get on each other too tough. We just let each person know what we need them to do individually, so we can accomplish what we want to accomplish as a team.”

The Cowboys’ pressure defense early in the second half forced two time outs by Sacramento State coach Brian Katz in the first four minutes. The Hornets (1-9) never really recovered.

“In the second half, Wyoming really came out and upped the defensive pressure, which led to turnovers and easy baskets,” Katz said.

Wyoming coach Heath Schroyer said the second half on Saturday was the best 20 minutes of basketball that his team has played this season.

“We chart a lot of things on the bench and one thing that we chart is deflections,” Schroyer said. “We had 15 deflections in the second half, which is a high for us. I thought we really shared the ball; we only had three turnovers in the second half. Anytime we can have five guys score in double figures, that means we are sharing the ball.”

Seven points by Wyoming in the first minute and a half turned the momentum.

“We switched up defensively in the second half and put Sean on the ball full-court after made baskets, and we put Brandon back on (Loren) Leath,” Schroyer said. “I thought Sean did a good job of keeping pressure on the ball and Brandon did a good job of fighting through screens and playing defense in the half court.”

Ogirri scored 25 points for the Cowboys, including 16 in the second half. Ogirri had his second straight strong game shooting from the outside, as he hit 7 of 13 3-pointers. On Tuesday against Western State, Ogirri scored 26 points with seven 3-pointers.

“I just calmed myself down and shot the ball with confidence,” Ogirri said.

Ewing and Afam Muojeke added 20 points each, with Ewing also adding a career-high 11 assists, along with four steals Tyson Johnson and Djibril Thiam both scored 11 points for Wyoming, as Thiam grabbed 10 rebounds.

“Just the big-time players, they stepped up big for us,” Ewing said. “Djibril came off the bench to give us some big-time minutes. Everything just started clicking.”

Antonio Flaggs led Sacramento State (1-9) with 23 points, followed by Leath with 19.

The Cowboys will now turn their attention to UCLA with an 8:30 p.m. matchup with the Bruins.

Katz came away impressed with the Cowboys.

“Wyoming is a good team … they’ll do well in their conference,” Katz said. “It’s a young team and those teams are usually long and athletic, and that is a team that can be very formidable to win any game, any night. They are a team that can work together and keep themselves together.”