FORT COLLINS — The knock on Wyoming has been that its defense-oriented style of play wouldn’t win on the road.
Scratch that.
With a 60-54 victory Wednesday night over Colorado State, the Cowboys (14-2, 3-0 Mountain West) earned their first Border War victory at Moby Arena since 2009 and claimed their second conference road win of the season.
Colorado State, trailing by 13 points with 15:30 to go, made a late run but came up short. The Rams (14-2, 1-2) lost for the second consecutive time after opening the season with 14 consecutive victories.
A Moby Arena crowd of 8,018 watched Wyoming sophomore guard Jason McManamen clinch the game by hitting a 3-pointer from the left wing with 20.9 seconds left to put the Cowboys up 59-54. The Cowboys worked the ball with passes before finding McManamen, from Torrington, Wyo., who is the Cowboys’ only in-state player.
“To get an open shot like that isn’t easy,” Wyoming coach Larry Shyatt said. “This was a great win for us.”
Wyoming’s usual sticky defense limited CSU to 34 percent shooting. J.J. Avila led the Rams with 23 points. But no other CSU player scored more than eight points.
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“It hurts,” Avila said. “If it doesn’t hurt all our guys, they shouldn’t be out on the floor.”
Wyoming placed three players in double figures, with Larry Nance Jr. leading the way with 15 points. Charles Hankerson Jr. and Josh Adams each added 13 points.
Colorado State made sure to put a body on Nance, and the 6-foot-9 senior became frustrated. Nance, the reigning Mountain West player of the week, scored nine points in the first half but made only two field goals.
Nance tweaked a knee during the game, but initial reports from Wyoming’s medical staff were that he is OK, Shyatt said.
Colorado State made 8-of-9 free throws in the opening 20 minutes and was fortunate to be down by just five points at the break. The Rams got nine first-half points from Avila, who made four of the Rams’ nine field goals in the opening half.
Wyoming entered the game ranked third nationally in scoring defense, allowing opponents just 51.9 points per game.
Wyoming was picked just sixth in the preseason conference poll.
“We made mistakes that we usually don’t make,” CSU coach Larry Eustachy said. “That’s why this league is so tough.”
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Officials allowed more contact that usual, and neither coach was happy with various calls. During the final minute, multiple players on both sides were grappling on the floor for a loose ball.
“As a coach, I question if either team played their best game,” Wyoming’s Shyatt said. “But both of us played hard.”
Eustachy said the difference was Wyoming “played a little tougher than us. We have a lot of new guys, and every game is a new experience for them.”
Tom Kensler: tkensler@denverpost.com
