University of Wyoming forward Leonard Washington scores one of his career high 32 points during Saturday's game. (Photos: Brian Schueler)
This was indicative of how Washington’s career night went as he lead the Cowboys to a victory over rival Colorado State University by a score of 70–51 in front of 7,901 bellowing fans in the Arena Auditorium.
The University of Wyoming Cowboys began the game, connecting on their first four shots to quickly jump out to a 10–4 lead. CSU closed the gap to within four points, but with the score 12–8, the Pokes reeled off a 12–2 run in a seven–minute timeframe, lead by junior Luke Martinez who had six of the 12 points in the span.
The Rams were only able to shrink the lead by one point in the final 6:30 following the run. The Cowboys took a 13–point lead into halftime, 32–19.
Wyoming finished the first half shooting just 39.3 percent compared to CSU’s 40 percent. The Cowboys, however, took eight more shots than the Rams (28–20). Eight of the Cowboys’ made buckets were assisted. Washington and Martinez combined scored 23 of the 32 points for the Cowboys, scoring 13 and 10 respectively.
The Cowboys did not take any time picking up where they left off in the second half as Martinez stole a pass on the opening possession from CSU to initiate a fast break. Martinez was not able to finish the layup but was backed up by Leonard Washington who made the rebound. This initiated a 7–3 run for the Cowboys. Washington took over to score the next 11 of the Cowboys’ following 16 points while JayDee Luster added the other five. This gave the Cowboys a 51–38 lead with 10:08 remaining in the game. The two teams continued to swap buckets and free throws through the second half until there was 5:14 left in the game, when Wyoming pulled away by scoring 11 out of the last 13 points.
Head Coach Larry Shyatt reacts during the game against Colorado State University. The Cowboys won 70–51.
Washington finished with a career high 32 points and a career high in rebounds with 14. He shot 12–16 from the field including 3–4 from three. Martinez also added double figures with 12 points.
“I tip my hat off to my teammates for getting me the ball and realizing what I was capable of today,” Washington said. “I thank them for that.”
As a team, the Cowboys shot 43.4 percent from the field thanks to a 48 percent (12–25) shooting outburst in the second half. Wyoming also out–rebounded the Rams 35–24.
The Pokes were able to hold Rams leading scorer Wes Eikmeir, who came into the game tied tops in the Mountain West Conference in scoring with 16.7 points a game, to just two points.
“I wanted to limit his touches,” Luster said, who guarded Eikmeir for the majority of the game. “The coaching staff and my teammates had faith in me to guard him.”
As a team, the Rams were only able to shoot 40.5 percent from the field. The Rams, who came in as one of the top three–point shooting teams in the conference, were only able to muster up a 29.4 percent (5–17) shooting performance from behind the arc. This was attributed to the stingy three– point defense of the Cowboys, ranked fifth in the nation in the category.
Tomorrow, the Cowboys will welcome in the nationally ranked San Diego St. Aztecs, in a game scheduled to tip off at 6:30 p.m. at the Arena Auditorium.
