LARAMIE, Wyo. — The University of Wyoming Cowboys basketball team used some stellar defense to stifle Tennessee State in an 81–66 victory.
The win marked the 50th for head coach Sundance Wicks, as guard Obi Agbim recorded 24 points in the win for the Pokes.
“Great test for us to go against a really competitive team in Tennessee State,” Wicks said. “I thought early on tempo was right for us, but the unnecessary fouls put them at the line. We wanted to get them at altitude, and it became a slow game. On nights like this we must find the lineup of tightness. We did a good job defending the three-point line and we did a great job on ball screen defense.”
Agbim was 10-of-13 from the field for the night and 4-of-4 from behind the arc. Jordan Nesbitt added 15 points for the Cowboys with a team-high seven rebounds. Guard Kobe Newton added 11 points off the bench with a career-high five assists to lead the team.
The Pokes shot 53% from the field for afternoon and shot 50% from behind the arc, going 9-of-18. The Cowboys held Tennessee State to 37%. It marks the second straight game where the UW defense held its opponents to under 40%.
Neither team could find the basket in the opening minutes, but Agbim opened the scoring with a 3-pointer. After TSU found a quick lead, Agbim added another triple, followed by a slam by Nesbitt for an 8–4 contest near the 16-minute mark of the half.
Touko Tainamo added a pair of free throws and a 3-pointer for a 19–12 lead for the Pokes with under 12 minutes left in the opening frame. Agbim added a fast break alley-oop and gave Wyoming a 23–14 lead just past the halfway mark of the first half. A minute later he added another slam, and Wyoming led 28–16.
Agbim opened the second half hot, pushing the lead to 20 points at 52–32 in the early-goings of the frame. However, Tennessee State went on a 9–0 run over two and a half minutes to make it a 56–46 game for the Pokes with under 14 minutes left. A slam from Scottie Ebube ended the run for TSU.
TSU made it a six-point game at 58–52 with 11 minutes left in the contest. The lead went down to as close as six, but the Cowboy defense fueled a 6–0 run to push the lead back to 65-53 with under nine minutes remaining.
Tennessee State was led by Brandon Weston with 18 points. Amir Langlais added a double-double with 11 points and 11 rebounds.
