A slow offensive night for the Cowboys combined with poor defense of the 3-point shot led to a Wyoming loss to Utah, 68-51, on Saturday in the Arena-Auditorium.

Wyoming began a 9-0 run four minutes in the second half, sparked by some quick points on transition, and pulled within single-digits of the Utes.  However a 3-point bucket from Utah with 13:26 to go propelled them on a 13-4 run and the Cowboys were not able to pull close to the Utes the rest of the way.

At halftime, the Pokes were down 37-21.  They went 9-for 29 shooting, including just 1-for-6 in 3-point range. Uncharacteristically, Wyoming made only 2-of-7 free throws in the first half.

Wyoming (8-10, 1-3) was last in the conference in 3-point field goal percentage defense heading into the game and Utah (8-10, 1-3) took full advantage.  The Utes shot 44.4 percent from beyond the arc, going 12-for-27, with 8 of the 12 coming from the corner.

"Offensively, Utah did a good job of overloading our zone and attacking us from the corner.  Still, we held them to 68 points.  When you hold a team to 68 points you should have a chance to win.  We just couldn't score the basketball today." -Head Coach Heath Schroyer

Desmar Jackson led UW in scoring with 17 points.  Amath M'Baye posted the first double-double of his career with 11 points and a career-high 10 rebounds. As a team, Wyoming shot 35.8 percent from the field, 20 percent from 3-point range and 61.1 percent from the charity stripe.

Coach Schroyer described Adam Waddell, Djibril Thiam and JayDee Luster as all being not 100 percent, because of the injuries they are recovering from.  All three played in Saturday's game, Waddell had a season-high 29 minutes on the court.

"We need to get healthy, hopefully with a week til our next game we can get some guys healthy."  -Head Coach Heath Schroyer

Utah's Will Clyburn had a game-high 24 points and 12 rebounds.  He shot 50 percent for the game and went 5-for-10 in 3-point range.  Utah shot 39.7 percent for the game, 44.4 percent from beyond the arc and 71.4 percent from the free-throw line.  The Utes got 47 rebounds, compared to Wyoming's 29.

The Cowboys will hit the court again on Saturday, Jan. 22 when they take on Air Force in Colorado Springs, CO at 1:30 p.m.  Coverage will begin on KCGY at 1:00 p.m.

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