Wyoming Cowboys Bomb Away South Dakota in 71-51 Win

The Wyoming Cowboys caught fire from deep Thursday night at the Arena-Auditorium, as they made 12 3-pointers and rolled past the South Dakota Coyotes, 71-51, in their second game of the Global Sports Hoops Showcase. The UW defense never let USD get going, as the Pokes held the Yotes to 30 percent shooting from the field.

Leonard Washington posted his second straight double-double with 17 points and 11 rebounds, while Luke Martinez added 21 points, including 7-of-9 from beyond the arc. The seven 3's are a career-high for Martinez. As a team, Wyoming went 12-25 (48%) from downtown, and five different players hit treys.

Martinez said, "The only reason I get open is because our big guys are so aggressive down low, and when they get the ball, the other teams collapse, so that leaves me open."

Larry Nance, Jr. also finished in double figures with 12 points. All 13 Cowboys played in the game and nine of them got in the scoring column. Riley Grabau finished with six assists and now has 14 assists and no turnovers this season.

UW jumped out to a quick 10-0 lead and never trailed. South Dakota pulled within 4, at 14-10 with 15:16 left in the first half, but that was as close as the Coyotes would get. The Cowboys led 35-20 at half and built the advantage to 24 points in the second half.

Head Coach Larry Shyatt said, "Probably our best effort, best performance of the year with this group, including Canada and our exhibition games, from start to finish. I thought we shared the ball really well on offense, and I thought defensively, we connected the dots."

Wyoming (3-0) was 26-57 (45.6%) from the field and 7-11 (63.6%) from the foul line. They held a 1 rebound edge over South Dakota, 38-37. The Pokes also had 18 assists in the game.

The Coyotes were led by Casey Kasperbauer with 12 points. Juevol Myles had 11, and Tyler Flack finished with 10 points. USD (0-2) was 16-53 (30.2%) on field goals, 5-16 (31.3%) from 3 and 14-19 (73.7%) at the stripe.

In the third game of the tournament, which was earlier in the day Thursday, North Carolina Central (2-2) defeated Southern (1-3), 59-55.

The Cowboys finish up the Global Sports Hoops Showcase on Friday night with their third game in as many days. They take on the Southern Jaguars, with tip-off at 8 pm. You can listen to the game on Y95 Country. Coverage will begin at 7:30 pm.