Ewing rises to the challenge for Cowboys

Richard Anderson photo
Wyoming senior Brandon Ewing celebrates after becoming just the third Cowboy to score at least 2,000 points in his career.

Wyoming-UNLV stats

by Richard Anderson
Wyoming Sports.org

Wyoming senior Brandon Ewing sees his college career winding down, so he took it upon himself to add to his status as one of top players in both Wyoming and Mountain West Conference history.

Ewing’s 29 points led Wyoming to a 77-68 victory over UNLV on Wednesday, as the win snapped a four-game losing skid for the Cowboys, 15-10, 4-7 in the Mountain West.

Ewing, who was 8-of-16 from the field (5 of 8 3-pointers) and was 8-of-9 from the free-throw line, is now third all-time in scoring for Wyoming with 2,021 points, only trailing Fennis Dembo (2,311) and Flynn Robinson (2,049). Ewing is the second-leading scorer in MWC history, behind San Diego State’s Brandon Heath, who scored 2,189 points from 2003-2007.

“If it wasn’t for having my teammates finding me, I wouldn’t have had a night like this,” Ewing said. “Some of my teammates talked to me before the game and said, ’big-time players have big-time games and we have six games left besides the tournament, so go ahead and carry us.’ That’s what I wanted to do tonight.”

Wyoming coach Heath Schroyer said Ewing might have had his best clutch game of his career -- especially in Schroyer’s time (two years) with the Cowboys. “I thought Brandon was huge,” Schroyer said. “When we struggled, he hit big shots. If you are going to win in February, you’re going to need your seniors have to step up and make big-time plays, and I thought Brandon did that.”

Winks Adams and Tre’Von Willis both scored 18 points to lead UNLV, 19-6, 7-5, with Rene Rougeau adding 16. Wyoming led by as much as 14 in the first half and 35-25 at halftime.

Adams hit three free throws to make it a six-point game early in the second half, before Ewing keyed a 13-2 run with two straight 3-pointers. UNLV again cut the Wyoming lead in half with eight straight points to make it a nine-point game with nine minutes left. The Cowboys seemed to weather the storm, leading by 10 with six minutes remaining, only to see the Rebels answer with seven straight points. But Wyoming hit 8-of-10 free throws in the final 45 seconds to clinch the win.

UNLV coach Lon Kruger said his team didn’t execute the game plan that he had in mind. His team shot just 35 percent from the field and hit only 5 of 26 3-pointers. Wyoming also held a commanding 44-25 rebounding advantage.

“We didn’t get off to a good start and once the Cowboys got off to a good run, we didn’t have the enthusiasm to fight it off,” Kruger said. “It was an uphill battle the whole time.”

Ewing said it was all about getting the Cowboys pointed in the right direction in this final six-game stretch. “This team was tired of losing,” Ewing said. “We just wanted to come out and make a statement in this conference, that we are a for-real team. We took a couple of lumps on the head from teams on the road and Utah came in here and beat us. We wanted to come in tonight and protect home court.”

Sean Ogirri and Adam Waddell added 13 and 10 points respectively for the Cowboys, who return to action on Saturday when they host TCU at 1:30 p.m.

After it was announced in the first half that Ewing went over the 2,000-point mark, Ewing did a little dance and encouraged the Wyoming faithful to keep up their support.

"We were practicing that in the mirror before the game," Ewing said with a laugh. "That's why I was kind of aggressive at the beginning of the game. I wanted to get it over quick."

Ewing said that he will look back at scoring over 2,000 points as a great accomplishment, considering all of the outstanding players in Wyoming history.

"With all of those great players who have been through here -- Theo Ratliff, Reggie Slater ... Kenny Sailors, who is hanging up in the rafters," Ewing said. "I didn't have 2,000 points in high school, so to come into college in Division 1 in a big conference, to get 2,000 points, it's huge. I'm sure my mom is proud."

Ewing aded that he is sure that Dembo and Robinson are happy for him. "It's going to be hard to get (Dembo's) record, so I am sure he is happy about that," he said. "I'm sure Flynn Robinson is pretty worried right now."

Wyoming sophomore Djibril Thiam said the rest of the Cowboys are confident that their leader can carry the weight for them.

"We're just young guys, we're learning," Thiam said. "Everything that he does, we're sure that it is best for the team. We're backing him up 100 percent."