The Cowboys forced 21 San Jose State turnovers in a 74-62 win over the Spartans on Senior Day in the Arena-Auditorium on Saturday afternoon. Wyoming also had five players score in double-figures for the fourth time this season, as UW finishes the regular season 18-13 overall and 8-11 in the MW. With the win Cowboys clinch the seventh seed in next week’s MW Championship in Las Vegas.
“One of the things we talked to our guys about entering this game was looking at today as the start of the Mountain West Conference Tournament,” UW head coach Allen Edwards said. “This game was a must win in terms of positioning ourselves for the tournament either as the seven seed, with a win, or the nine seed.”
Senior guards Jason McManamen and Morris Marshall played their final contest in Laramie. McManamen finished the game with nine points on three triples, as the all-time leader at UW now has 197 in his career. Marshall made his first career start for UW.
“Obviously tonight was also about two guys who have contributed in their own separate ways to our program. I love Morris (Marshall) to death — a tremendous kid and one of our best guys in terms of motivating his teammates, but injuries have stopped him from contributing on the court as much as he could have,” Edwards said. “Jason (McManamen), a Wyoming kid who has been here five years and is going down as the all-time three-point shots made record holder, which I think is really special.”
Sophomore guard Justin James led the Pokes with 15 points on the afternoon, as he went 7-of-8 from the free throw line. Junior forward Alan Herndon added 13 points for UW going 5-of-6 from the field. He also added three blocks and now has 102 in his career for sixth all-time at Wyoming. Junior forward Hayden Dalton added 11 points and a team-best six rebounds. Junior guard Jeremy Lieberman and sophomore guard Cody Kelley added 10 points. Kelley tied a career-high with his 10 points.
“Cody (Kelley) played a real good game today. Not that Jeremy (Lieberman) didn’t play well today, but Cody brought a lot of energy,” Edwards said. “Not only did he help us hitting a couple three-point shots and two free throws, but he made a big layup at the end and got three steals. He also did a good job defending and running our team.”
The Pokes shot 50 percent from the field and 52 percent from behind the arc. UW hit 11 three pointers for eight-straight games with double-digit three pointers. The Cowboys have shot over 50 percent from the field six times this season. The Spartans 21 turnovers was a season-high for a UW opponent. SJSU finished the contest shooting 44 percent after shooting 57 percent in the first half. The Spartans also held the advantage on the glass, 36-25.
The two teams combined for seven turnovers in the opening eight minutes of the game, as UW hit three triples to open its scoring with threes from Dalton, McManamen and Lieberman to make it an 11-11 contest. Despite the early mistakes, San Jose State opened the contest going 6-of-8 from the field.
After being held without a field goal for three minutes, The Cowboys went on an 8-0 run to take a 23-17 lead with 9:05 left in the first half. Kelley sparked the run with a dish to a wide open Andrew Moemeka for a dunk and a steal that ended in a transition three form Kelley that led to a SJSU timeout.
The Spartans would go on a 9-4 run to take a 26-25 lead on a three pointer from Brandon Mitchell with 5:35 left in the first half. A 9-3 run by the Pokes gave UW a 36-31 advantage with under two minutes left in the half and carried that lead into the break.
San Jose State opened the half on a 7-2 run to tie the game at 38-38 two minutes into the second half. An 8-2 run by the Pokes gave UW a 46-40 lead with under 15 minutes remaining with five points coming from Herndon.
The Cowboys maintained their six point lead, which was the largest of the game for either team until a Clarke layup cut the lead to three points at 56-53 with under five minutes remaining. McManamen instantly pushed the lead back to six points the following possession with his third triple of the game.
James gave Wyoming its largest lead of the game to that point at 63-55 with 3:15 remaining on a pair of free throws. The Cowboys used back-to-back threes from Dalton and Kelley to build a 12-points lead with a little over a minute remaining, as UW earned the 74-62 win.
The Spartans were led in scoring by Clarke as he added 20 points and nine rebounds. Forward Ryan Welage added 19 points for SJSU.
The Cowboys will be the seventh seed in the MW Championship and either play Air Force or UNLV on Wednesday afternoon in the Thomas & Mack Center in Las Vegas.
