The non-conference season is all about learning, getting an education. Wyoming got educated in how to deal with a nagging opponent in their 80-75 win over Prairie View A&M on Wednesday night. While the lead didn’t changed often, the Cowboys kept it within 10 points the entire game.

“Coming to this altitude, every team tends to get tired,” Brandon Ewing said. “But, you only get tired when you are losing by a lot. If you feel like you have a change to win the game, it is hard to get tired.”

“This was a test for us, to see how tough we are,” Cowboy Tyson Johnson said.

Sean Ogirri kicked off the game for Wyoming with a layup and 3-pointer on back-to-back possessions. Wyoming drove the score up to 18-8 on seven free throws, an Adam Waddell dunk and Johnson to Brandon Ewing fast break.

The Panthers clawed their way back scoring on three straight possessions with five minutes remaining in the half to take a 29-28 lead, holding the Cowboys on a four minute scoring draught.

Before half, seniors Johnson and Ogirri put the Cowboys back in the lead, 34-31, knocking down a pair from the charity stripe.

Waddell came up empty on a pair of free throws to start the second half and the Panthers capitalized with a quick four points by Dorian McDaniel snagging back the lead 35-34.

The Cowboys racked up 17 turnovers that turned into 29 points for Prairie View A&M.

“I think our turnovers helped them stay in the game, give them the momentum,” Ewing said. “We helped them out on that.”

The Cowboys started to pull away with a 72-62 lead with 5:38 remaining, but as they got deeper into the half, the Panthers took advantage of Cowboy mistakes tying together a two free throws, a layup on a fumbled full court press break and a 3-pointer from Christopher Jones closing the game within three, 75-72.

Panther coach Bryon Rimm II said his team caught a few bad bounces against the Cowboys, even though they were credited with an extra point in the end.

“I thought our guys played very well,” Rimm said. “We had a few bad bounces here and there, but Wyoming is a very good basketball team. We came and competed tonight though.”

Johnson said he knew the Cowboys could come out with a win and proved it by taking an Ewing shot off the rim in the final 30 seconds and tipping it through to put the game out of range for the Panthers.

“We just let the pressure get to us a little bit,” Johnson said. “We really didn’t defend with them. But, I knew we would close it out because we have three seniors out here. We worked hard through the whole game, so I knew we would close it out.”

The Cowboys saw their freshman Afam Muojeke take his place as scoring leader for the team in his second straight game with 23 points. He was followed by Johnson with 20, Ewing with 14 and Ogirri with 12.

Wyoming hosts Johnson & Wales University in the Arena-Auditorium at 6 p.m. on Saturday.

If Afam Moujeke can duplicate his performance last week, the Wyoming Cowboys should have no problem improving their record to 2-0 tonight when they host the Prairie View A&M Panthers.

Tonight’s home game will be the Cowboys’ second consecutive contest in the Arena Auditorium, however, Wyoming hosts a team that has three games on the Cowboys.

The Panthers (1-3) enter Laramie tonight after facing some stiff competition thus far, including a team that Sports Illustrated ranked as the No. 4 preseason squad in the nation.

That team is none other than a squad the Pokes will face in less than a month: California-Los Angeles.

UCLA, who competed in the NCAA Final-Four a year ago, defeated the Panthers 82-58 in the 2K Sports Classic last week. Prairie View has also faced Weber State and Big XII foe, Missouri thus far.

Wyoming (1-0) head coach Heath Schroyer will see firsthand just how experienced the Panthers are tonight in the “Dome of Doom.”