Cowboys run past Peru State

UW-Peru State box

By Richard Anderson
Wyoming Sports.org

Last Friday was a hard one to take for Heath Schroyer, the Cowboys and the Wyoming fans.

A 16-point loss in your season opener will do that to you.

On Wednesday, even against tiny NAIA Peru State, the Cowboys looked a little more like what Schroyer has been talking about all along.

Afam Muojeke scored 26 points to lead the Cowboys past the Bobcats 120-73 Wednesday night in the Arena-Auditorium.The Cowboys (1-1) sputtered at times early in the game before taking a 14-point halftime lead. Wyoming then used a 17-3 run in the opening minutes of the second half to pad its lead and run away with the win.

Schroyer said his team show marked improvement defensively on Wednesday.

“I was happy that we were able to get out on the passing lanes and just play on our toes, which I don’t think we did the last game versus South Dakota State,” Schroyer said.

Sophomore guard JayDee Luster, who had 11 assists, said they had a little point to prove after their opening loss.

"I think it felt good to redeem ourselves, just focuses on us and do what we had to do, and that's what we did tonight," Luster said.

Thomas Manzano had 19 points for the Cowboys. Djibril Thiam had 18, Ryan Dermody had 12 and Daylen Harrison added 10.The Cowboys' full-court press forced 34 turnovers that led to 45 points.

Granted, the game was against a NAIA school, but Luster said that really didn't matter.

"We have to come out with high energy and just worry about us every night. If we think about who we are playing against, that's a problem," Luster said. "Just do what we do ... pressure the ball and things like that."

Schroyer said that their depth at 7,200 feet can cause teams problems and they were able to eventually wear down the Bobcats in the second half.

“It really wasn’t anything fancy but just picking it up full court and just trying to get our guys to play on their toes,” Schroyer said. “They are going to get better defensively as they understand rotations and as they understand picking up from full court.”

The Cowboys shot 61 percent (43 of 71) to just 38 percent for Peru State (23 of 60).

“Offensively, we did a nice job of sharing the ball,” Schroyer said. “We had 27 assists on 43 made field goals, which I love.”

Laramie native Marshall Kelly led Peru State (2-6) with 16 points and Jovan Hitch added 15 for the NAIA team.

“We used this game as a learning experience and I think especially in the first half we did some good things,” Peru State coach Troy Katen said. “We executed what we wanted and did some things defensively that caused them some programs.“