By Christian Lasher, PokesNews.com Staff
The “Cardiac Cowboys” strike again. This time, on the hardwood of the 240th Border War between Wyoming and 24th ranked Colorado State University.
The thrilling 79-76 overtime win for the Cowboys in front of over 7,000 fans at the Arena Auditorium almost didn’t happen.
With just over one minute left in regulation. Colorado State held an 11 point lead over the Cowboys from Laramie, Wyoming.
Forward Mason Walters hit a layup to start the comeback. That started a flurry of Wyoming shots by Senior Guard Sam Griffin and made free throws by the Cowboys.
Walters says, “Just belief!” When asked how the Cowboys rallied and didn’t give up when down by double digits.
He added, ‘This was one of my favorite games for sure…the crowd was so awesome…my first Border War…it was pretty awesome!” Walters ended with 13 points and 6 rebounds in the win.
Round one of the Border War between the Cowboys and CSU had 14 lead changes. But it was the tying bucket on an in-bounds pass that Forward Mason Walters hit with 1.5 seconds left that sealed overtime.
Walters says, “I appreciate Coach (Linder) a lot, and my teammates believing in me in that moment…we put a lot of hard work in and to see that (shot) go down was nice and give our team a chance to win in overtime.”
On going for the tie in regulation, 4th year Head Jeff Linder joked, “We call that play Fargo, even though Walters is from Jamestown. We knew we had a window and that space to throw the ball and Mason finished it.” His bucket made the score 65-65 as the buzzer rang ending regulation.
Overtime started with Wyoming winning the opening tip, but saw 5 lead changes.
With 1:38 on the clock, CSU held on to a 74-70 lead. After a Sam Griffin 2 pointer, Senior Guard Brendan Wenzel made a layup to cut the game to two points. Sophomore Forward Caden Powell added a block on Mountain West Conference Preseason Player of the Year Isaiah Stevens’ shot. The CSU superstar ended with 17 points and 9 assists on the day.
With 28 seconds left in OT, Senior Guard Akuel Kot hit a huge three pointer and was fouled by Stevens. The four-point play gave Wyoming a 76-74 lead. A lead Wyoming wouldn’t relinquish in the contest. Kot finished with 18 points in the win.
Kot on the 4 point play: “I was looking to be aggressive to see what shot I could get. I shot a shot I worked on and I got it up and it was an “and-one” three so it feels good, I am thankful it went in.
That play gave Wyoming a 77-74 lead. The Cowboys would hang on to win with a final score of 79-76.
The win moves the Cowboys to 4-3 in Mountain West play.
Linder talked about the excitement of a Border War win and earning Wyoming’s 4th conference win of the season. “As many great games as there has been and all the great players that have played in the Border War, there has never been a comeback win of 11 down with a minute left. That just shows the toughness and resiliency not to give in. It would have been very easy for our guys to just pack it in.”
Coach Linder says he was thrilled with the energy the crowd provided, “They really deserved to be in front of a crowd like that. They are a really good group of guys…we went through a lot of stuff last year so for us to come back and a year later find a way to beat a really good team on our home floor. Just hopefully it continues to build us up. If we can keep games close, we have guys that can close games.”
With the win, Wyoming leads the all-time series 139-102 and the Cowboys move to 11-9 overall. With the loss, CSU drops to 3-4 in conference play and 15-5 overall.
The Pokes finished 20-29 from the charity stripe in the contest for 69%.
Wyoming will hit the road to face the Falcons of Air Force in Colorado Springs on Tuesday night.
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