Cowboys fall to Hot Shooting Boise State, 85-68

LARAMIE, Wyo. (January 14, 2023) The Wyoming Cowboys dropped an 85-68 contest to one of the Mountain West’s hottest offensive teams in Boise State on Saturday night in a late-night contest at the Arena-Auditorium in Laramie. It was the third straight match against an opponent ranked in the top 25 of the NCAA NET rankings.

“They’re a good team and it’s a good program (Boise State),” the UW head coach Jeff Linder said. “I was there the first six years and now it’s 13 years. I remember the first years there we had to go through some tough times to build the program. Here we are now. We’re fighting again, but sometimes you can only control what you can control. Between injuries and illness, it is really hard and it’s really hard for our guys.”

The Pokes shot 44 percent from the field on the night and 37 percent from beyond the arc on 7/19. Boise State shot 49 percent from the field and knocked down 12 3-pointers on the night. Boise State outshot the Pokes 42-33 on the night.

“Give them (Boise State) credit,” Linder said. “They’re a team that doesn’t necessarily always shoot the ball great, but they found a way to win and they got guys to step up and make shots tonight. When you have an experienced team like Boise State, who knows who they are and who they’re not going to mistakes, you can win a lot of games. That’s what we can learn from.”

The Cowboys remained shorthanded by using their 12th different starting lineup this season, second-most in the NCAA, but hoped for a returning leading scorer. Noah Reynolds. He added 13 points to lead the Cowboys. Hunter Maldonado added 12 points and added four points. Xavier DuSell added 11 points for his third straight game in double figures. Jeremiah Oden added 11 points for his fourth straight game in double figures. Ethan Anderson also added 11 points and grabbed a team-high six rebounds.

Reynolds opened the game with one hand, and Wyoming’s defense held the Broncos scoreless for the first 105 seconds of the contest. Boise State then went on a 7-2 run to take the lead. Maldonado and Reynolds added baskets to make it 7-6, but Naje Smith hit a triple to make it 10-6 at 15:46.

The Pokes cut it to one point at 10-9, but Smith hit another triple to make it 13-9 with 13:22 left in the opening period. Wyoming was held scoreless for three minutes as the Broncos built a 17-9 lead that Maldonado’s 3-pointer cut to 17-12 with less than 11 minutes left in the game.

DuSell added the game’s first 3-pointer for a 17-15 Boise State lead, but Max Rice and Marcus Shaver Jr. helped push the lead back to nine at 24-15 with just over eight minutes left in the half. The Broncos would maintain their advantage by using a field goal to take an eight-point lead five minutes from time.

The Broncos built the lead to 10 points at 35-25 with two and a half minutes left in the first half. DuSell hit a pair of three-pointers to give the Broncos a 39-33 lead with less than a minute left in the half, but the Broncos added a bucket for a 41-33 halftime lead.

The Broncos opened the second half with a 9-2 run to take a 50-35 lead in the first two minutes of the frame. Nate Barnhart would hit his first career 3-pointer in a 54-41 game with 15:23 left in the game. Chibuzo Agbo helped the Broncos extend their lead to 18 points with less than 15 minutes remaining in the contest.

Reynolds pushed the Pokes within 16 points, but Smith hit another triple with Agbo for a 69-47 lead midway through the half. The Cowboys held the Broncos without a bucket for more than three minutes, but could only manage a 70-52 contest.

The Pokes would hit 5-of-7 shots from the field, but the Broncos would still enjoy an 85-63 lead in the final minutes and take the first meeting of the season 85-68.

Boise State was led by Smith and Agbo with 18 points each. Agbo led all players in the game with nine rebounds. He was also 4-8 from the field on the night.

The Cowboys hit the road and turn around quickly. Wyoming travels to Air Force for Tuesday night’s game at 7pm at Clune Arena.