Cowboys Struggle and Lose to Fresno State, 80-62 [VIDEOS]
Nate Grimes scored 20 points off the bench to lead five Bulldogs in double figures, as Fresno State rolled past Wyoming 80-62 Saturday in Laramie.
The Cowboys four-game win streak came to a close. They struggled shooting from start to finish and hit just 36 percent from the floor. UW was only 19-53 in the game.
Fresno State (16-8, 6-5) made 31-of-57 shots. That is 54.4 percent for the game. It included 42 from deep. They came in shooting 50 percent from the field and 41 from the arc.
The Bulldogs never trailed. They jumped out to a 20-7 lead in the first nine minutes capped by Jaron Hopkins steal and dunk. The lead grew to 18 on a Terrell Carter II lay-up at the 7:15 mark. Wyoming rallied within 10 on Hayden Dalton’s three with 2:57 left. That made it 36-26. Fresno State’s 10-4 spurt at the end of the half put them in front 46-30 at halftime.
Wyoming (15-8, 6-4) missed a pair of open three-pointers at the start of the second half that would have cut the lead to 10. They got no closer than 15 points the rest of the way.
The Cowboys were led by Dalton with 20 points and 11 rebounds. Alan Herndon added 11 points. They did make 10 three’s and had 21 points off 13 Bulldog turnovers.
Fresno State held a 37-28 edge in rebounding. They finished with 38 points in the paint and scored 17 points off 15 Wyoming turnovers. That included 13 points off 10 UW turnovers in the first half.
It was the most lopsided loss for the Cowboys in the last two seasons of conference play. The last time Wyoming lost by 18 was in the Mountain West Tournament against Utah State March 9, 2016. That was Larry Shyatt’s last game as head coach.
The 62 points scored by UW was its lowest in a MW game this season.
The Pokes return to the court Wednesday against Utah State. Wyoming won in Logan on Jan. 20, 85-77. Tip-off is at 7 p.m.