Falcons end Cowboys season

UW-Air Force game statistics

UW postgame quotes

A rough season came to another disappointing end for the Wyoming Cowboys, as Air Force rolled to a 59-40 win Wednesday in the opening round of the Mountain West Conference tournament at the Thomas & Mack Center in Las Vegas.

The ninth-seeded Falcons (10-20) will face top-seeded and eighth-ranked New Mexico (28-3) on Thursday.

Air Force, which built a 32-21 halftime lead and never trailed in the second half, was led by Grant Parker's 15 points and Michael Lyons' 11.

The eighth-seeded Cowboys (10-21), who got 18 points from freshman Desmar Jackson and 12 from sophomore Adam Waddell, cut their deficit to 47-40 on Waddell's basket with 5 1/2 minutes left. But the Falcons responded with a bucket by Parker and a three-point play by Todd Fletcher that ignited a 12-0 run to end it.

Rebels roll past Cowboys

Wyoming's youth continued to shine, but UNLV's experience proved to be too strong once again, as the Rebels rolled past the Cowboys 74-56 Saturday at the Thomas & Mack Center in Las Vegas.

Freshman Desmar Jackson paced the Cowboys (10-20, 3-13) with 21 points, including 16 in the second half. Junior Djibril Thiam finished with 13 points and 13 rebounds, with freshman Amath M'Baye added 13 points.

Tre'Von Willis the Rebels with 20 points, nine rebounds and shot 9 of 15 from the field.

UNLV (23-7, 11-5 Mountain West) is the No. 3 seed in next week's conference tournament. The Rebels play sixth-seeded Utah in the final game of the first round on Thursday night.

Chace Stanback had 13 points and nine rebounds for the Rebels.

Wyoming, which has lost nine of its last 10 games, is the No. 8 seed in the tournament and faces No. 9 Air Force in the opening round on Wednesday afternoon.

Cowboys break skid

UW senior Ryan Dermody


UW-AFA game statistics

by Richard Anderson
Wyoming Sports.org

Any win is a good win for the Wyoming Cowboys these days. A win was extra special on Senior Night for the Cowboys Ryan Dermody.

Dermody hit four 3-pointers in the second half to rally the Cowboys past Air Force 58-49 Tuesday night the Arena-Auditorium.

“It just feels real good,” Dermody said. “It was just good for this team to get a win, obviously. We’ve been struggling. It was our last home game as a team and it was my last home game personally. The guys played really well, especially these two here … Daylen and Djibril had great games. I’m really happy that I ended my home career with a win.”

Dermody is the lone senior for the Cowboys this season and his younger teammates said they wanted to make sure that they would be victorious in his final home game.

“We wanted to do that for our teammate and buddy, Ryan Dermody,” said junior forward Djibril Thiam, who led the Cowboys with 13 points. “It was great.”

Freshman Daylen Harrison has only played with him for one season, but he said tis win was for Dermody.

“I really wanted to get this one for Derm because I lost on my Senior Night, so I know how it feels,” Harrison said. “I didn’t want him to feel it this year.”

Wyoming head coach Heath Schroyer added that he was happy for Dermody to play like he did and get the win in his final home game as a Cowboy.

“He’s overcome a lot of things in his career with injuries; he’s overcome even more in his personal life,” Schroyer said. “I’m really, really happy that he was able to do that. He is graduating in May, all of his requirements are completed. That’s what it is all about. You hope your seniors can out like this and I was happy that Derm could do that.”

After missing his four first-half 3-point attempts and going scoreless, Dermody came out on fire and hit 4 of 6 threes -- two to put the Cowboys back in front and two to extend their lead.

Dermody admitted that he had a lot of nerves going before the game because it was an emotional night for him. He credited his teammates for keeping his spirits up after the slow start.

"They said, ‘keep shooting, keep shooting, they are going to fall,'" Dermody said.“It was frustrating in the first half because I didn’t feel like there was a difference between the ones that went in and the ones that didn’t go in. Luckily, I was able to make a couple in the second half.”

With the win, the Cowboys (3-12 MWC, 10-19) also broke an eight-game losing skid.

“It was a much needed win; it was a good win for us,” Schroyer said. “I felt our guys really showed a lot of growth tonight.”

Tom Fow scored 17 points for the Falcons (1-14, 9-19), who clinched last place in the conference with one game to play.

The Cowboys trailed for much of the first half, but closed the gap to 25-23 at halftime, and then rode the hot outside shooting from Dermody to regain the lead early in the second half. A 3-pointer by Dermody and two free throws by Harrison put the Cowboys up by six with 4:28 remaining.

The Falcons then scored five straight points but could get no closer than one with 2:36 to play, as Wyoming closed with a 10-2 run, including 8 of 10 from the free-throw line.

“They made a run, cut it down to one. We called a timeout and executed and never relinquished the lead. I thought that was big, and we made free throws down the stretch,” Schroyer said.

Desmar Jackson was 8 of 9 from the line and scored 12 points for the Cowboys. Harrison added three 3-pointers in the first half and scored a career-high 11 points.

Wyoming, which shot 44 percent from the field (17 of 39), hit 9 of 23 3-pointers, the second most threes the Cowboys have hit in a game this season.

"As simple as it sounds, we made some shots tonight," Schroyer said. "When you make nine threes, that is going to give you a chance to win."

Grant Parker scored 14 points for the Falcons, who cooled off after hitting 8 of their first 12 shots from the field. Air Force shot 43 percent (20 of 47) in the game, including just 5 of 20 3-pointers.
The 49 points were the fewest allowed by Wyoming this season.

“Give them credit, they played good half-court defense when they needed to,” Air Force coach Jeff Reynolds said. “They are very capable capable shooting the three as well as they did.”