Laramie – Wyoming showed maturity as it came back from a five-point deficit at halftime on Saturday to beat New Mexico 77-70.
“We’re starting to believe,” Wyoming coach Steve McClain said. “When we get to about the six-minute mark of the second half, and we’re close, our kids believe they’re going to win.”
Since a loss to UNLV, Wyoming (10-7, 3-1 Mountain West) pulled out two close victories over conference foes TCU on the road and Air Force at home. And with the win over New Mexico, the Cowboys grabbed their third conference win in a row.
Brandon Ewing scored a career-high 23 points – including four 3-pointers – and seven assists.
“He’s a freshman, you know? Who can imagine what he’ll be doing when he’s a senior?” teammate Justin Williams, said of Ewing.
“Some people thought that it was going to be a learning process because we got young guards, but all he’s doing is showing everybody that they’re wrong,” said Williams, who had 10 points and five blocked shots.
Wyoming was down six points at halftime after a sluggish offensive start. But the Cowboys were able to regroup and outscore the Lobos (11-6, 2-2) 50-37.
“One thing I really like about this team is when we were down at halftime, the kids didn’t panic,” McClain said.
Free-throw shooting was a big difference in the game for the Cowboys, who hit 18-of-21 attempts in the contest, for a season-high 85.7 percent.
The Cowboys had struggled early this season from the stripe, shooting 58.5 percent during their first eight games. But in the past nine games, Wyoming has made 171-of-238 attempts, for 71.8 percent.
“When we weren’t making them, everyone was missing them,” McClain said. “Now we’re keeping the ball in the right peoples’ hands at the end of the game.”
The Lobos made a late run, converting three consecutive three-point plays. David Chiotti’s three-point play with 50.5 seconds left brought New Mexico within 71-66.
But Wyoming weathered the storm with strong free- throw shooting, hitting 17 of its last 18 attempts.
Steve Leven scored 16 points for Wyoming.
The Lobos’ Mark Walters led all scorers with 26 points. Chiotti scored 19.
