LARAMIE, Wyo.—Afam Muojeke scored 26 points to lead Wyoming past Peru State 120-73 Wednesday night.
The Cowboys (1-1) sputtered at times early in the game before taking a 14-point halftime lead. Wyoming then used a 17-3 run in the opening minutes of the second half to pad its lead and run away with the win.
After struggling on Friday in a 77-61 loss to South Dakota State, Wyoming coach Heath Schroyer said his team showed significant improvement defensively on Wednesday.
“I was happy that we were able to get out on the passing lanes and just play on our toes, which I don’t think we did the last game versus South Dakota State,” Schroyer said.
Marshall Kelly led Peru State (2-6) with 16 points and Jovan Hitch added 15 for the NAIA team.
“We used this game as a learning experience and I think especially in the first half we did some good things,” Peru State coach Troy Katen said. “We executed what we wanted and did some things defensively that caused them some problems.”
Thomas Manzano had 19 points for the Cowboys. Djibril Thiam had 18, Ryan Dermody had 12 and Daylen Harrison added 10.
The Cowboys’ full-court press forced 34 turnovers that led to 45 points.
Schroyer said Laramie’s altitude—7,200 feet above sea level—can be a challenge for visiting teams and allowed Wyoming to wear down the Bobcats in the second half.
“It really wasn’t anything fancy but just picking it up full court and just trying to get our guys to play on their toes,” Schroyer said. “They are going to get better defensively as they understand rotations and as they understand picking up from full court.”
The Cowboys shot 61 percent (43 of 71) to just 38 percent for Peru State (23 of 60).
“Offensively, we did a nice job of sharing the ball,” Schroyer said. “We had 27 assists on 43 made field goals, which I love.”
