In a battle of rebuilding basketball teams, the Wyoming Cowboys showed there might be some building blocks in place in a second half runaway Wednesday night at Magness Arena.
Triggered by a 16-0 run down the stretch, the Cowboys (5-2) pulled away for a 68-52 victory over the Denver Pioneers (5-2). The deciding effort was shaped by senior Josh Adams and sophomore Alan Herndon and it pushed the Cowboys into a 63-48 lead going into the last two minutes.
There were only three other seniors suited up, DU’s Marcus Byrd, Nate Engesser and Bryant Rucker.
“We embarrassed ourselves in the first half,” Shyatt said. “We played pretty well in the second half and showed some signs that we could become a competitive team.”
Scott pointed to a 40.4 shooting percentage as the biggest issue for DU,
“We didn’t start well and we didn’t shoot the ball well throughout,” Scott said. “Wyoming played the full 40 minutes.”
After a sluggish first half, the pace picked up in the second half.
The Pioneers fought back from a slow beginning and took their first lead of the game, 36-35 with 15:15 to play. They were ahead 48-47 on Ruckers’ two free throws with 7:41 to play. But the Cowboys took charge with 16 consecutive points.
Adams led all scorers with 19 points and Rucker had 17 for the Pioneers.
