Ogirri takes over for Cowboys

Wyoming guard Sean Ogirri

Wyoming-Western State boxscore

By Richard Anderson
Wyoming Sports.org

Did Wyoming head coach Heath Schroyer come up with a new strategy to get senior Sean Ogirri going offensively?

Probably not, but evidently Schroyer pushed the right buttons.

“Coach said, ‘Are you ever going to play?’” Ogirri said. “I guess he got me mad. I just wanted to stay aggressive in the second half.”

It worked as Ogirri scored a career-high 26 points, as the Cowboys rolled past Western State 100-73 Tuesday night in the Arena-Auditorium.

Ogirri had just three points at halftime, but took over in the second half, hitting 6 of 9 3-pointers. He closed with a bang, even with a comfortable lead, hitting three treys in the final two minutes, including the final one to give Wyoming 100 points with 14 seconds left.

Ogirri’s answer to the challenge by Schroyer? “I was like, ‘Let’s go then,’” he said with a smile.

It wasn’t like the Cowboys didn’t need a little offensive pick-me-up from Ogirri, who at times has been reluctant to try to take over.

“We were a little sluggish and I just wanted to help bring the lead up,” Ogirri said.

Schroyer didn’t really try to make Ogirri mad, he said he just told him to be a senior and be aggressive.

“I said, ‘Let people like myself and this team know how good Sean Ogirri is,’” Schroyer said. “You got a little bit of a glimpse on it. Sean is such a great teammate that sometimes he defers a little too much to his teammates than being aggressive. For us to do what we are going to do in conference to be competitive, Sean Ogirri is going to have to be aggressive and I thought in the second half, he was.”

Ogirri’s previous career high with Wyoming was 22 points and he went into the game averaging 13.1 per contest, certainly good numbers, but not overwhelming numbers. He had scored just 16 points in his previous two games, hitting 4 of 15 3-pointers. He was able to find his rhythm on Tuesday with a few extra shots in practice.

“That’s what happens when I get in the gym, just repetition and just staying aggressive,” Ogirri said.

The last thing the Cowboys wanted to do was get into a 3-point shooting contest with Western State, a Division II school that takes half of its shots from behind the 3-point arc.

As it turned out, the Cowboys won the long ball battle, as the Cowboys connected on 12 of 24 in the game. Western State (5-4) hit 12 of 38 3-pointers.

“They got 38 (3-pointers) up and I told the kids that they played Air Force to a six-point game and they shot 35 then,” Schroyer said. “They send four guys to the perimeter, but I guess we made enough plays to win the game.”

The Cowboys overcame an early five-point deficit to Western State, but opened up a 20-point advantage midway through the second half.

Brandon Gentry led Western State with 17 points, followed by Cameron Burney and Allen McFarland with 16 each. The Mountaineers shot just 32 percent in the game (25-of-77).

“We didn’t shoot the ball particularly well,” Western State coach Mike Moskowitz said. “If we were able to shoot better, it might have been a lot closer.”

Brandon Ewing finished with 21 points for Wyoming, which led 44-35 at halftime. Afam Muojeke added 18 and Tyson Johnson finished with 10, as the Cowboys were 34-of-67 from the field.