Cowboys to host World Vision Challenge

The Wyoming Cowboys get right back to work, hosting the World Vision Challenge Friday through Sunday in the Arena-Auditorium.

The World Vision Challenge will feature six games, two each day, between the likes of Wyoming, Pepperdine, Hampton and Monmouth. On Friday and Saturday, action will begin at 4:30 p.m. and on Sunday, games will begin at 12 p.m. The Cowboys will play Monmouth on Friday at 7:30 p.m., Hampton on Saturday at 7:30 p.m. and Pepperdine on Sunday at 3 p.m.

The Cowboys will enter the World Vision Challenge with a 2-2 overall record. They will be looking to rebound from a tough Wednesday night road loss to Denver (80-77). That loss snapped a two-game winning streak.

"It's going to be good," Wyoming coach Heath Schroyer said Wednesday night on the Cowboy Sports Network postgame show. "We'll have three home games and try to make a little hay."

Sophomore Afam Muojeke continues to lead the Cowboys in scoring and is averaging 20.8 points a game. Senior Ryan Dermody is the Pokes’ leading rebounder with 5.3 per contest. Redshirt sophomore JayDee Luster leads the team in assists, and is averaging 3.5 a game.

This Friday’s game will mark the second meeting between Wyoming and Monmouth. The Pokes won the first meeting, 52-47, on Dec. 27, 1994 in the Casper Shootout. Monmouth is currently 1-3 overall.

Saturday’s game with Hampton will mark the first ever meeting between the Cowboys and Pirates. Hampton enters the tournament with an overall record of 0-4.

The Cowboys’ opponent on Sunday will be the Pepperdine Waves, who are currently 1-3 overall. The Cowboys and Waves have met two previous times, both of which were played in Laramie. The Cowboys won the first meeting back in 1959 by a score of 75-68. More recently, Pepperdine beat the Cowboys 72-69 in the first round of the 2001 NIT. Pepperdine is coached by Tom Asbury, who was a letterwinner at UW from 1965-67 and was also a Cowboy assistant coach from 1977-79.

The naming rights to the tournament were donated to World Vision by Basketball Travelers, Inc. As a Christian humanitarian organization, World Vision aims to contribute to a 75 percent reduction in malaria cases, with the end goal of nearly zero preventable malaria deaths by 2015. World Vision works in 62 malaria-endemic countries, 23 of which are in sub-Saharan Africa.