<!--IMAGE images/2011/January/20/cruz_francisco.png IMAGE-->

What’s the fastest way to become a fan favorite? Hitting a buzzer beater to knock off New Mexico thrusting Wyoming into Sports Center’s top ten plays is a good route to take. 

Francisco Cruz’s shot to give Wyoming its lone conference win of the season remains a highlight of a difficult season for the Cowboys but the play of Cruz is enough to get fans excited about the team’s core group of players. 

Cruz, a transfer from Western Nebraska Community College, is only averaging 8.3 points a game, according to Wyoming Athletics, but his 15 steals and 32 assists have made him the perfect utility player for the Wyoming offense. 

“I try to do as much as I can. I try to play defense all the time and rebound, score, [get] steals; everything I can to help the team to win,” Cruz said. 

Cruz’s 32 assists make him the team’s third best distributor behind point guards JayDee Luster and Desmar Jackson. The 6’3” Cruz is also the team’s sixth best rebounder averaging three a game. 

Cruz has shot a high percentage from behind the arc. His 40.6 percent three-point shooting leads the team by nearly 7 percent over the next best shooter. Cruz has hit 28 three pointers this season; the next highest is Afam Muojeke with 16. 

Cruz was the 22^nd ranked scorer at the junior college level last season for Western Nebraska, and his outside shooting added a much needed element to the Cowboy offense. 

Cruz said that he made the junior college transition so well because of his willingness to do the small things on the court and his work with coach Heath Schroyer. 

“Coach helped me develop. He always told me that I was able to do a lot of things on the floor so he opened it up so that I could have the freedom to be effective in the games,”  Cruz said.

All season long Schroyer has talked about the importance of unselfish play from his players and Cruz is a model for the type of player that the Cowboys need to win. 

“I think we have struggled at times being selfish with the ball and looking to score individually. When we don’t move the ball we struggle and when we get everyone involved and everyone is looking to make each other better than we can win,” Cruz said. 

“I don’t want to try and score all the time. I’m not like that. I just want to try and do everything to help make the team better.” 

The Cowboys will need such a team effort if they want to break their two-game losing streak on the road against Air Force this Saturday.