Fort Collins – After four games on the road in the past five outings, Colorado State lost its way home.
Any swagger from the 11-2 nonconference start has long since disappeared with the rigors of the Mountain West. CSU coach Dale Layer warned earlier in the week the Rams’ confidence ebbed – and he wasn’t just trying to set up Wyoming.
By the time the Rams started to play, midway through the first half, a more aggressive Wyoming team was well on the way to a 72-67 victory.
The Cowboys sent the Rams (12-7) to their first home loss of the season and a woeful 1-5 start in the MWC before a season- high Moby Arena crowd of 8,289.
Each team endured horrendous shooting spells in the first half. The Rams didn’t see their first points until 15:33 remained when Micheal Morris swiped the ball and went in for a score. Wyoming (11-8, 4-2) didn’t hit a field goal for the last 8:56 of the first half, but recovered to pull away for a 27-26 halftime lead.
While the Rams were content to turn the ball over or miss all but three of the first 19 possessions, Daaron Brown and Steve Leven staked the Cowboys to a 13-2 lead before Jason Smith scored his first points.
“They played harder than we did for 40 minutes. We played hard for about 30 minutes,” Layer said. “You’re not going to be a good team anywhere when you play like that.”
CSU’s tepid start in its first home game since Jan. 14 surprised the Cowboys.
“Coach told us before the game they were going to be hard, and he wasn’t talking about the players, he was talking about the crowd,” Brown said. “He said, ‘Ignore them, play hard,’ and that’s what we did.
“You think with them being home they were going to hit it, but we came out stronger than them.”
Layer pointed to Wyoming’s aggressiveness, demonstrated by a 44-27 command of the boards and more than twice as many trips to the foul line. CSU was nearly perfect at the stripe (14-of-15), but that didn’t beat 24-of-32.
He half-joked, “Maybe they thought Justin Williams was going to block every shot.”
Williams, who came in averaging 6.0 blocks – second in the nation – played only eight minutes in the first half because of two early fouls. He finished with four blocks, 12 points and eight rebounds.
When Derek Wabbington slammed in a shot for Wyoming’s biggest lead at 21-4, the crowd turned hostile. Wabbington scored again for a 23-7 lead, and then the Cowboys froze.
WYOMING (11-8, 4-2 Mountain West)
Williams 4-4 4-4 12, Wabbington 2-5 1-4 5, Jones 1-6 9-12 11, Leven 3-11 2-2 10, Ewing 5-11 6-6 16, Lewis 1-4 0-0 2, Ebert 0-2 2-2 2, Anderson 0-1 0-0 0, Brown 7-9 0-2 14. Totals 23-53 24-32 72.
COLORADO STATE (12-7, 1-5)
Robinson 0-0 0-0 0, Smith 5-10 8-8 18, Harrison 5-9 0-1 11, Lewis 2-9 2-2 7, Gilling 3-8 0-0 9, S.Morris 1-6 0-0 3, Harris 2-3 0-0 4, Patterson 0-3 0-0 0, Creason 2-5 4-4 8, M.Morris 3-6 0-0 7. Totals 23-59 14-15 67.
Halftime – Wyoming 27-26. 3-point goals – Wyoming 2-10 (Leven 2-5, Ebert 0-2, Ewing 0-3), Colorado St. 7-19 (Gilling 3-7, Harrison 1-1, M.Morris 1-3, Lewis 1-3, S. Morris 1-4, Patterson 0-1). Fouled out – Smith. Rebounds – Wyoming 44 (Brown 9), Colorado St. 27 (Smith 7). Assists – Wyoming 16 (Ewing 7), Colorado St. 20 (Lewis 4). Total fouls -Wyoming 21, Colorado St. 24. A – 8,289.
Natalie Meisler can be reached at 303-820-1295 or nmeisler@denverpost.com.
