Cowboys Fly Past Eagles in CBI First Round [VIDEOS]
The Wyoming Cowboys won their first postseason game since 2013 with a 91-81 victory over Eastern Washington in the first round of the 2017 CBI Wednesday night in Laramie.
Justin James led five Cowboys in double figures with 19 points. Hayden Dalton had 18 points and six rebounds. Louis Adams finished with 16 points off the bench, while Alan Herndon added 12 points and a team-high seven rebounds. Cody Kelley chipped in 10 points off the bench.
Wyoming (19-14) shot 58 percent for the game. They were 11-of-18, 61 percent, from beyond the arc. The Pokes finished with a 34-24 rebounding edge and had 21 assists on 35 field goals.
A 9-0 run by UW in the middle of the second half gave the Cowboys control. Dalton started it with a basket and capped it with a three. James and Kelley added free throws.
Eastern Washington (22-12) was led by Bogdan Bliznyuk with 29 points. Jacob Wiley, the reigning Big Sky Conference Player of the Year, added 26 points. The Eagles shot 49 percent for the game.
The Pokes held an early lead before Eastern Washington took a brief 20-18 lead midway through the first half. A Herndon three-pointer gave UW the lead back. A three-pointer by Adams sparked an 18-6 run that ended the first half. The Cowboys led 44-32 at the break.
The Eagles started the second half hot and trimmed Wyoming’s lead to 54-53 with 13:45 left on a Wiley three-point play. That’s when UW responded with their key run. Once the lead got to 63-53, the Cowboys kept it between seven and 10 points the rest of the game.
Wyoming will host UMKC in its second round CBI game on Monday, March 20 at 7 p.m. in the Arena-Auditorium.