Ewing named to All-District team

Wyoming senior Brandon Ewing

For the third consecutive season, the United States Basketball Writers Association (USBWA) recently selected Wyoming senior Brandon Ewing as an All-District VIII performer. Ewing also received the honor following his sophomore and junior seasons.

The USBWA names nine all-region teams from across the country. The teams are based on voting by the USBWA’s national membership. District VIII consists of schools in the states of Wyoming, Utah, Idaho, New Mexico, Colorado, Nevada and Montana.

For Ewing, a Chicago, Ill. native, this marks the third postseason honor that he has received this year. He was also named First Team All-Mountain West Conference by the league’s coaches and media, thus becoming the first player in MWC history to garner all-conference honors four times. He was also named Second Team All-District 17 by the National Association of Basketball Coaches (NABC).

This season, Ewing leads the MWC in both scoring and assists with 18.5 points per game and 5.03 assists per game. He is on pace to become the first player in MWC history to lead the league in both categories in one season. Ewing also looks to be a lock to become the first player in MWC history to lead the league in scoring three times, as he was also the best scorer in the conference as a sophomore and junior.

On the season, Ewing scored in double-figures in 31 of 33 games, while reaching the 20-point plateau 16 times. In his career, Ewing scored in double-figures 107 times and scored 20 or more points 51 times.

Ewing ends his Wyoming career as the school’s career leader in free-throws made, free-throws attempted, 3-pointers made, 3-pointers attempted and games started. He ranks second in school history in scoring and assists. He also ranks third in steals, third in attempted field goals and sixth in made field goals.
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USBWA District VII Awards
Player of the Year
Luke Nevill Utah

Coach of the Year
Stew Morrill Utah State

All-District Team
Luke Babbitt Nevada
Lee Cummard BYU
Tony Danridge New Mexico
Brandon Ewing Wyoming
Jimmer Fredette BYU
Cory Higgins Colorado
Mac Hopson Idaho
Anthony Johnson Montana
Luke Nevill Utah
Gary Wilkinson Utah State

Cowboy offense stuck in reverse

Richard Anderson photo
Wyoming senior Brandon Ewing goes up for a layup Tuesday against Northeastern.

Cowboys-Huskies stats

By Richard Anderson
Wyoming Sports.org

The game plan was simple: Just play an up-tempo game and run your opponent off the court.

Not everything goes as planned and the Wyoming Cowboys found out the hard way Tuesday in the first round of the College Basketball Invitational against Northeastern.

The Huskies, who play a more deliberate game, slowed the Cowboys down to almost a crawl at times and held off Wyoming 64-62 to move into the quarterfinals next Monday against UTEP.

“We knew going in that we couldn’t score in the 70s or 80s,” Northeastern coach Bill Coen said. “The University of Wyoming is very comfortable at playing at that pace. We knew we couldn’t get going up and down and get into a running game with them. We tried to control the tempo and that was effective.”

Northeastern, which confused Wyoming with various defenses, went into the game giving up an average of 62.4 points a game. Giving up 62 to the Cowboys proved to be just enough.

“They like the game low scoring like that; we like the game up in the 80s and the 90s,” Wyoming senior guard Brandon Ewing said. “We really couldn’t get in a rhythm.”

Wyoming coach Heath Schroyer said his team was out of rhythm all night.

“I give Northeastern a lot of credit for that,” Schroyer said. “Their switching defenses kept us off balance. Offensively, they knocked down big shots when they needed to.”

The Cowboys were especially off kilter early, as Northeastern, build early leads of 14-7 , 21-8 and 27-14.

“We did what we did most of the year by coming out with energy, forcing them to one and done, boxing out and getting rebounds,” Northeastern guard Allen Chaisson said.

Once the Cowboys didn’t have a couple of early shots go down, Schroyer said they pressed.

“Give them a lot of credit,“ Schroyer said. “When Tyson (Johnson) and Sean (Ogirri), your two seniors that score a lot, get just seven points, they did a nice job."

Wyoming did recover and actually led on two occasions in the second half, but could never get over the hump.

“We missed a lot of easy shots,” said Ewing, who led all scorers with 22 points. “We weren’t executing on our offense and defensive end. They hit a lot of tough shots and got their confidence.”

The nearly 7,000-feet difference in altitude between Boston and Laramie seemingly was built for the Cowboys’ advantage.

“I would say that people, if they hit their shots and get their confidence going, if they are winning the game, the altitude will never faze them,” Ewing said. “ But if they are losing the game, they’ll get tired.”

Instead, the lengthy Huskies gave the Cowboys fits all game. No one struggled more for Wyoming than Ogirri, who was scoreless for the only time in his brief UW career, missing all three of his shots. Ogirri went into the game averaging 14.8 points and was the Wyoming and Mountain West Conference single-season leader in 3-point shooting.

“He’s a real good catch and shoot shooter from the outside, so we just tried to get up in his face and not let him get the quick look right away,” Northeastern guard Matt Janning said. “Coach did a good job of switching defenses the whole game. We went triangle and two and put one guy out. He was more than happy to sit in the corner. I think we took him out of the game.”

Coen called Ogirri is one of the best shooters that he is ever seen. It was the Huskies job to keep Ogirri out of his comfort zone.

“We were very concerned. He was very capable of going for big numbers,“ Coen said. “Every shot he took was contested. We have some length and we were hoping that would bother him a little bit.”

The Cowboys certainly missed Ogirri’s instant offense.

“It’s always hard to play when Sean’s not out there and in his groove,” said Wyoming freshman Afam Muojeke, who added 16 points “He got in early foul trouble, and he was never really able to get into it.”

In the end, the Cowboys could never get over their offensive quagmire.

“This was our first postseason game in six years and we were almost in slow motion at times,” Schroyer said. “Obviously, it is a step we will have to take and absorb."

Huskies surprise Cowboys in CBI opener

Richard Anderson photo
Wyoming freshman Afam Muojeke drives on a Northeastern player on Tuesday.

by Richard Anderson
Wyoming Sports.org

From Boston to Laramie and opening the College Basketball Invitational in less than 48 hours, you couldn't blame the Northeastern Huskies for being a little slow on Tuesday night.

But it was the Huskies who left the home-standing Cowboys a little dazed and confused, as they surprised Wyoming 64-62 in the first round of the tournament in the Arena-Auditorium.

Losing six of their previous nine games, Northeastern, 19-12, opened Tuesday with a different attitude from start to end.

“We had not been playing all that well towards the end of the season, and when we were selected, I think it was just a relief for the guys to get another chance,” Northeastern coach Bill Coen said. “We played with a particular energy that you need to be successful. We were able to execute and knock down some shots and gain some confidence early. I thought that was the key.”

Wyoming, 19-14, struggled early and the Huskies took advantage by running out to a 21-8 lead 11 minutes into the game.

“We hit some shots early and gained a lot of confidence,” Coen said.

Guard Matt Janning, who led the Huskies with 20 points, said they wanted to get off to a good start after their recent struggles.

“We wanted to put it on right away and see what we could do from there,” Janning said. “We had guys step up tonight.”

The Cowboys, who were led senior Brandon Ewing’s 22 points, came back to cut the Northeastern lead to 32-28 at halftime.

Wyoming took its first lead at the 10:55 mark on two free throws by freshman Afam Muojeke. But Northeastern’s Allen Chaisson answered with three straight 3-pointers and the Huskies led by as much as eight before Ewing scored six points in the final 20 seconds, including a 3-pointer with 1.7 seconds left.

Allen finished with 16 points, with Nkem Ojougboh adding 11 and Eugene Spates 10 for the Huskies, who will play UTEP on Monday. The Miners edged Nevada 79-77 on Tuesday.

Winning away from home has not been uncommon for the Huskies, who earned road wins at Profidence, Indiana and Virginia Commonwealth this season.

“We were comfortable playing away from home,” Coen said. “I kind of attribute that to we took a foreign trip and went up to Canada over the summer an were able to win six game son the road. That kind of set the tone for our guys, they are comfortable playing on the road. Home teams are going to make a run, but it is really how you respond to those runs that will make a difference.”

Cowboys glad to still be playing

Richard Anderson photo
Wyoming senior Brandon Ewing will get another chance to play at home Tuesday night as the Cowboys host Northeastern.

By Richard Anderson
Wyoming Sports.org

Going into the Mountain West Conference Tournament, the three Wyoming seniors had visions of winning it all and earning the automatic NCAA Tournament bid.

After being eliminated in the tournament semifinals by Utah on Friday, the Cowboys talked about a possible National Invitation Tournament berth.

Wyoming will get neither. What the Cowboys, 19-13, will get, is a chance to continue their season in the 16-team College Basketball Invitational, now in its second season. UW opens the tournament on Tuesday at 7 p.m. when it hosts Northeastern.

While the CBI isn’t the NIT and certainly is nothing comparable to the NCAA, it is an opportunity to keep playing. For the three Cowboy seniors -- Sean Ogirri, Tyson Johnson and Brandon Ewing -- that’s the best part.

“It’s basketball and everyone loves basketball,” Ogirri said. “Everyone wants to play the sport that they love. We’ll keep playing this season as much as we can.”

Added Ewing: “I just love the game of basketball and my teammates love the game of basketball. Obviously, the coaches love coaching. I don’t care where we play at, I just want to keep the season rolling.”

More importantly, it’s a chance to play more basketball in a Cowboy uniform.

“It’s very exciting that we get to compete in the postseason,” Johnson said. “We have another chance to get another win. It will be fun to play in front of our fans again in our white uniforms.”

In his second year at the helm, Wyoming coach Heath Schroyer said just getting to the postseason is a big plus for not only the seniors, but for the underclassmen.

“This is only the seventh time in 20 years that this program has been to a postseason tournament,” Schroyer said. “We’ve made a lot of progress; I’m really proud of our guys. I’m really happy for our seniors that they get to extend their career and also really lay a foundation to where this program is and where we hope to go.”

Schroyer said he is also excited to be playing in the CBI, considering the alternatives … not playing.

“You just look at the teams in this tournament and you look at Kentucky and Florida in the NIT. It’s very, very hard in today’s world to go to postseason, and we’re very fortunate to be in it. We’re proud to be in and we look forward to playing,” Schroyer said.

In last year’s inaugural tournament, Utah competed and won its first game before falling to eventual champion Tulsa. Now, the Utes are the league champions.

“When you look at two teams that stand out from last year’s tournament, Washington and Utah, they were in the CBI last year and one is a third seed (Washington) and one is a fifth seed (Utah) in the NCAA Tournament this year,” Schroyer said. “When you look around the country, there are a lot of teams that are very good and have very good records that aren’t going to play.”

The Cowboys last qualified for postseason play in 2003 when they faced and fell to North Carolina in the NIT. The year before, Wyoming had its magical run in the NCAAs when it knocked off Gonzaga before falling to Arizona.

“These three seniors -- there hasn’t been a guy in this uniform in the last six seasons that went to a postseason tournament. This is a big deal for them,” Schroyer said. “They’re excited to play. Obviously, everyone wants to go to the NCAA Tournament, but we came up short on that. We’ve had a good year and want to extend it as much as possible.”

Johnson said they are motivated to play as long as they can.

“We’re approaching it like we do any other game … come into practice and work hard, do what we do, watch film on them and just go out and get a win,” Johnson said.

Ewing said they are approaching Tuesday night like any game, like it is a business.

“This team never gets too high, never gets too low,” he said. “We’re excited to continue our season in postseason play. We just want to take it one game at a time.”

The only Cowboy with any postseason experience is Ogirri, who helped lead Wichita State to the NCAA Sweet 16 in his sophomore season. He said he really doesn’t have any special advice for his younger teammates other than just be who they are.

“We just have to act like a regular game and not be nervous,” Ogirri. “I think they’ll know what to do.”

Ironically, Wichita State is in the CBI this season as well and could face Wyoming in the semifinals.

“I’d love to play my old school,” Ogirri said. “If they get there, it would be a good game. It would be fun. I’m just ready for the first game. We play Northeastern, so I am just going to take it game-by-game.”

Ewing said that he has talked to one of his conference friends -- Utah’s Johnnie Bryant, who played in the tournament last year as a senior.

“He was a senior last year and he wanted to have fun,” Ewing said. “He wanted to continue his season and didn’t want it to end. I’m sure he had a lot of fun with it.”

The second leading scorer in Wyoming and Mountain West Conference history, Ewing said that one thing he had not ever achieved in his career was playing in a postseason game.

Until now.

“One thing I always wanted to do when coming into college, was play in the postseason,” Ewing said. “I’m just glad I have the team that I do, because without them, I wouldn’t be playing right now.”

Huskies a bit unknown for Cowboys

By Richard Anderson
Wyoming Sports.org

Late Monday morning, the three Wyoming seniors -- Brandon Ewing, Sean Ogirri and Tyson Johnson -- were asked during a teleconference what they knew about their College Basketball Invitational opponent, Northeastern.

They could have answered in unison with a big, “nothing.”

Now, later on in the day, they were able to watch some film of the Huskies, who will travel across the country from Boston to face the Cowboys Tuesday night at 7 p.m. in the Arena-Auditorium.

There’s not much in common with the teams from the Colonial Athletic Association and the Mountain West Conference. In fact, this will be the first meeting ever between the two schools.

What did Wyoming coach Heath Schroyer know about Northeastern by late Monday morning?

More than the players, but he too was waiting to watch more film on the Huskies later in the day.

What Schroyer said he did know was that the Huskies defensively are similar to Utah State.

“They try to slow you down with a three-quarter press and then back to a zone,” Schroyer said.
On offense, Schroyer said that Northeastern is deliberate.

“They’re kind of an inside-out team,“ Schroyer said. “They are a lot like Boston College. Their head coach (Bill Coen) was an assistant at Boston College, so they are very similar to them and play a very similar style.”

In preparation for the Huskies, the Wyoming offense will once again run trough Ewing (18.4 ppg, 5.1 apg), Ogirri (14.8 ppg) Johnson (13.3 ppg) and freshman Afam Muojeke (13.7 ppg).

“In one day’s prep, we’re going to do what we do,” Schroyer said. “Those three (seniors) are a big part of what we do.”

Northeastern, 18-12, finished 12-6 in conference play, tied for third (out of 12 teams) with Old Dominion. The Huskies lost to 11 seed Towson 58-54 in the conference tournament.

Northeastern is led by guard Matt Janning at 14.1 points a game, followed by forward Manny Adako at 11.3 points and guard Chaisson Allen at 9.7 points per contest.

To no one’s surprise, Ogirri and Ewing said the Cowboys will try to get out and run against the Huskies, who are not only traveling a great distance, but playing at much a higher altitude that they are accustomed to.

“I doubt they have played at altitude this high,” said Ogirri. “I know when I first did, I couldn’t even run after the first two trips. We’ll have to do that and use it to our advantage.”

“I’m sure they will try to find a way to suck it up,” added Ewing. “They want to win, just like we want to win.”

For the Cowboys, it’s also another home game. Wyoming finished 12-3 in the A-A this season.

“We’re pretty good at home. Obviously, I am excited to play at home and excited to give the fans another opportunity to play at home,” Schroyer said. “I know our seniors didn’t like losing our last home game (74-73 to New Mexico). This is an opportunity to remedy that and win a game at home in the postseason.”

With a win and a good crowd, the Cowboys could get another chance to play at home and would face the UTEP-Nevada winner at a site to be determined on March 23.

All Schroyer said they want to do is keep winning and keep playing.

“First and foremost, we want to extend our season. Our main goal is to try to win this tournament,” he said. “Obviously, it starts with game one and we’re playing a very good team. There is nobody in this tournament that is not good. Northeastern beat a lot of teams on the road. They beat Providence on the road, beat Indiana on the road. They’ve good and have had a lot of success on the road.”

Cowboys to host Northeastern in CBI

by Richard Anderson
Wyoming Sports.org

The Wyoming Cowboys are postseason bound, as they will be among 16 teams competing in the second College Basketball Invitational (CBI). Wyoming hosts Northeastern University (Boston) on Tuesday at 7 p.m.

The CBI invite is the first postseason tournament bid for the Cowboys in six seasons. The most recent postseason appearance by the Pokes came in the 2002-03 season when UW appeared in the National Invitation Tournament (NIT).

“I think this is a tribute to the student-athletes and coaches that they have been able to turn our program in a positive direction in such a short amount of time,” said UW Athletics Director Tom Burman in a release Sunday night. “I know our fans remember the excitement generated by the Cowgirl basketball program in their run to the WNIT Championship two years ago, and I hope our fans are looking forward to coming out Tuesday night to support the Cowboys in their first home game of the CBI.”

In just his second year at the helm, Wyoming coach Heath Schroyer said that it is hard to put into words what this means to the players and coaches to earn a postseason bid. The Cowboys are 19-13 this season, after finishing 12-18 in Schroyer's first campaign.

“This is a big step in the development of our program," Schroyer said. "Our kids have worked extremely hard and we are really, really excited to have this opportunity. Only about a third of the over 300 NCAA Division I programs get a chance to play in the postseason each year, so this is special.

“The fans have been so supportive of us this season. I hope they will come out to recognize our kids for their hard work, help us try to get our 20th win of the season and take another step in this tournament.”

Northeastern finished 18-12 this season and was 12-6 and tied for third in the Colonial Athletic Association this season with Old Dominion. The CAA was won by Virginia Commonwealth (VCU), with George Mason finishing in second place.

Ticket prices for Tuesday night’s game are $18 for adult tickets in the lower level, $15 for adult tickets in the upper level and $6 for youth and student tickets. Tickets will go on sale on Monday at 8 a.m. through the University of Wyoming Athletics Ticket Office and online at www.WyomingAthletics.com. Ticket office phone numbers are: (800) 922-9461 and (307) 766-4850.

Season-ticket holders can reserve the same seats they had during the regular season by calling the ticket office prior to 10 a.m. on Tuesday.

Wyoming becomes the second Mountain West Conference team to participate in the CBI. Utah played in the inaugural CBI last season and defeated UTEP 81-69 in the first round, before losing at Tulsa 69-60. Tulsa went on to defeat Bradley in the unique best of three championship series that was introduced by the CBI in 2008 and will continue again this year.

The College Basketball Invitational is a single-elimination tournament, up until the best of three championship series, with all games being played at campus sites. Prior to the semifinals, the remaining teams will be re-seeded. The championship series is a best of three (home-away-home) in which the higher seeded team will host the first and last (if necessary) home games.
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South Regional
Tuesday's Games
7 p.m. -- Northeastern (18-12) vs. Wyoming (19-13)
9 p.m. -- UTEP (19-12) vs. Nevada (21-12)
East Regional
Wednesday's Games
5 p.m. -- St. John's (16-17) vs. Richmond (18-15)
6 p.m. -- Charleston (26-8) vs. Troy (19-12)
West Regional
Wednesday's Games
6 p.m. -- Vermont (23-8) vs. Green Bay (22-10)
8 p.m. -- Houston (21-11) vs. Oregon St. (13-17)
Midwest Regional
Wednesday's Games
6 p.m. -- Buffalo (21-11) vs. Wichita St. (16-16)
8 p.m. -- Boise State (19-12) vs. Stanford (18-13)

Cowboys never get going and fall to Utes in semifinals

Wyoming-Utah boxscore

LAS VEGAS -- Everything the Wyoming Cowboys did well to knock off New Mexico the night before, they couldn’t do against Utah, falling to the Utes 68-55 on Friday in a semifinal game of the Mountain West Conference Tournament at the Thomas & Mack Center.

The Utes also had another big game from the league’s top player, Luke Nevill, and earned their third lop-sided win of the year against the Cowboys. In their three wins over Wyoming, the Utes have won by an average of 15.6 points a game.

“My hat is off to Utah. I think they're really, really good,” Wyoming coach Heath Schroyer said. “When you beat the SEC champion by 30 early in the year, it just tells you how good they are. My hat's off to them. They're very, very good.”

The 7-foot-2 Nevill, who struggled some against TCU the night before, made sure that didn’t happen two nights in a row, scoring 10 of the team’s first 13 points and then did that again in the second half after the Cowboys had cut the lead to five. He finished with 23 points and 15 rebounds.

“They got like a 9-foot wall, 9-foot building sitting there in the paint," Wyoming senior guard Brandon Ewing said. "It's tough to get an inside presence going. Basketball, you got to go inside-out. But we couldn't really do that today because they real big and real long down there, especially with Luke Nevill on the defensive end, kind of tough to get things going.”

After hitting 10 of 19 3-pointers against the Lobos, the Cowboys never got going from the outside, hitting just 1-of-10.

“We missed a lot of easy ones that we definitely could have made. Sean missed some ones he's definitely capable of making,” Ewing said. “Same with me. But it just didn't go tonight."

Ewing, who was 0-of-3 from behind the arc, led the Cowboys with 13 points. Ogirri hit 1 of 3 3-pointers and finished with 12 points. The two had nine 3s the night before, combining for 37 points.

Ewing said Nevill’s size sets the tone defensive on the court for the Utes and the Cowboys didn’t respond.

“They were just physical with us like B said,” Ogirri said. “They got Nevill down, it's tough to get shots in the paint. They're just physical. It bothered me a little bit and we didn't make as many 3s as we have.”

Carlon Brown scored 13 points for the second-seeded Utes (23-9), who will face fourth-seeded San Diego State in Saturday's championship game after easily holding off the Cowboys for their 10th victory in 12 games.

After foul trouble limited Nevill's minutes in Utah's quarterfinal win over TCU, the Utes leaned squarely on their 7-foot-2 Australian center against Wyoming. The Mountain West's player of the year got the ball down low on most possessions in the second half, methodically scoring 12 points and passing out of double-teams by the smaller Cowboys (19-13).

Utah beat TCU one day earlier on a last-second 3-pointer by Lawrence Borha, but no such drama was required against Wyoming. Utah jumped out to an early 18-6 lead, although Wyoming stayed in it with most of its points coming from Ogirri and Ewing.

Utah led by as much as 13, as New Mexico did on Thursday, and the Cowboys battled back to make it a six-point halftime game.

Tyson Johnson and A.J. Davis led a 10-2 run by Wyoming in the second half to trim Utah's lead to 48-43, but Nevill then scored five consecutive points for the Utes before drawing the defense to leave Luka Drca open for a 3-pointer with 7:59 to play, and Utah's lead never dipped below nine points.

The Cowboys shot just 34 percent from the field (17-of-50) and had just three assists.

“They're really hard to score against because of their length,” Schroyer said. “They're just very, very big and long. They really do a good job of shortening gaps on the ball. Just really hard to get where you want to go on the floor. You know, I think that we space the floor pretty well. But they got a 7-2 guy down there that is really a defensive presence. Tillie is a 6-11 guy with a defensive presence. You're forced to make jump shots against them.

"When you look at our post guys' numbers, we had eight points from Ty and Adam (Waddell). It's not as much that we didn't get good looks and they weren't really working hard; it's just hard to establish a post presence against them. When you're always playing from the perimeter, it's really tough.”

The Cowboys now wait for a chance to earn their first postseason bid since the 2003 season in which Wyoming lost to North Carolina in the NIT.