Men's Basketball Falls Down the Stretch to Wyoming, 78-70

Sunday, November 16

Laramie, Wyo.

2:00 p.m.

University of Northern Colorado

1-1

Wyoming

1-0

UNCO

Wyoming

Photo by: Troy Babbitt-USA TODAY

11/16/2014 6:21:00 PM | Men's Basketball

Box Score

The Bears hung with the Cowboys for 34 minutes of the game, before the hot shooting Pokes pulled away in the final minutes.

By: UNCBears.com

LARAMIE, Wyo. – Despite career high efforts from sophomore guard, Cameron Michael and junior forward, Cody McDavis, the Northern Colorado men's basketball team (1-1, 0-0 Big Sky) fell to Wyoming (1-0, 0-0 Mountain West) on Sunday afternoon, 78-70. The Bears hung with the Cowboys through 34 minutes of the game, but ran out of steam in the final six minutes for their first loss of the young season.

After five straight points from Michael, UNC built a 7-point lead, 15-8, with a little more than 12 minutes remaining in the first half. The Bears maintained the advantage over the next eight minutes of action, until a Riley Grabau layup gave the Cowboys a two-point edge, 27-25 and Wyoming's first lead since the 16 minute mark of the half.

"I'm really happy with our effort," Head Coach B.J. Hill said. "I thought we played extremely hard and played with poise for about, thirty four or thirty five minutes of the game and we had two to three minute stretches that cost us where we didn't communicate defensively, and that to me was the difference."

A pair of sophomore guard, Jordan Wilson free throws and another Michael three-ball was Northern Colorado's final points of the half, but despite the aggressiveness on offense, the Pokes were able to keep the lead and took a two point, 36-34 advantage into the locker room.

Despite shooting a solid, 48.0% (12-25) from the field and season-high 44.0% (4-9) from beyond the arch, the Bears were outshot by Wyoming in the first half. The Pokes fired 54.2% (13-24) from the floor and hit six three's (6-14) in the first 20 minutes of action.

Wyoming built its lead to nine in the first twelve minutes of the second half and it appeared the game was getting away from UNC, until McDavis scored four straight points to spark a, 9-0 run by the Bears capped off by a senior forward, Tim Huskisson lay-in to tie the game up at, 58-58 all with 6:13 to play in the contest.

Grabau nailed a three-pointer to end the Northern Colorado run and Wyoming regained the lead. The trey-ball ignited a 11-2 run for the Cowboys down the stretch and their lead was back up to nine, 69-60 with 3:12 left on the clock.

Two more points in the paint for McDavis stopped the bleeding for the Bears, but it was not enough as they dropped the contest, 78-70.

"They shot an unbelievable percentage in the second half," Hill said. "This is a really good team and my hat's off to Wyoming. They made plays when they had to and they had guys hit shots that I didn't think they could hit."

The Cowboys have now won 25 of the last 26 games against the Bears. Wyoming was lights out in the second half, converting 72.2% (13-18) of their shots from the field, and ended the game 44.4% (8-18) from beyond the arch. Northern Colorado ended the afternoon 49% (25-51) from the floor and were just 25% (2-8) from three-point land in the second half.

Three Bears posted double-digits on the day, with Michael paving the way with a career-high 21 points. McDavis also boasted a career-high 17 points and five boards, while senior forward, Dominique Lee added 13 points, three rebounds, and two steals in the defeat.

"New Mexico State is a very similar team. They have some big guys and their guards are very athletic," Hill said. "I don't know if they shoot it as well as Wyoming, but it's going to be a very similar event and a big time test for this team."

Next on the docket for the men's basketball team is a trip south to Las Cruces, New Mexico to square off against the Aggies of New Mexico State University on Wednesday, Nov. 19. Tipoff from Pan American Center is in the books for 7:00 p.m.