LARAMIE — Wyoming rolled to a 93-56 win over Portland on Saturday night, improving to 4-0 behind a balanced effort that saw 12 Cowboys score in front of 3,428 fans at the Arena-Auditorium.
Leland Walker led the Cowboys with 15 points, seven rebounds and six assists. Jared Harris, who had scored only two points in his UW career entering the night, added a career-high 16 points as the Wyoming bench delivered a major boost.
“I was really proud,” Wyoming head coach Sundance Wicks said, noting that his team executed the scouting report “at a high level.” He added, “We played 12 guys and all 12 impacted winning. We didn’t play 12 just because it was a blowout, we played 12 intentionally because that’s how we play fast, we play fast with depth. While everyone else was struggling to find six, seven and eight we’re developing nine, 10, 11, 12.”
University of Wyoming sports coverage in Southwest Wyoming is supported by these great sponsors:
Wyoming out-rebounded the Pilots (3-1) 48-31, turning 18 offensive boards into 21 second-chance points. The Cowboys shot 13-for-33 (39.4%) from 3-point range and held Portland to 2-for-12 (16.7%).
Coming out of halftime with a 41-31 lead, the Cowboys opened the second half with an 11-2 run highlighted by two aggressive drives from Khaden Bennett and a Walker three-point play. Moments later, Matija Belic scored and drew a charge, Kiani Saxon finished a lob from Walker, Harris beat the shot clock with a 3-pointer and Nasir (Naz) Meyer converted an acrobatic layup to push the lead to 65-40.
Damarion Dennis scored back-to-back layups and Uriyah Rojas buried a 3-pointer to cap a 19-0 run that stretched the margin to 79-40. With 2:14 remaining, Wicks called timeout to draw up a play for walk-on Garrett Spielman, who threw down a dunk that brought the crowd to its feet. Wyoming outscored Portland 52-25 in the second half.
The Cowboys finished with advantages of 18-5 in fast-break points, 40-32 in the paint and 57-33 in bench production.
“For us it’s so important to keep doubling down on this identity so the fans know what they’re going to come to see, what they should expect to see,” Wicks said. “The crowd (size) keeps going up a little bit more every night. When we get to 4,000 or 5,000 or 6,000 in here it’s going to be a complete competitive advantage. People are going to be out of oxygen when they come in here because we’re going to be taking it all up with our fans. That is what we want.”
Harris provided nine first-half points off the bench, including a transition dunk, while Walker added seven before the break. Freshman Simm-Marten Saadi beat the halftime buzzer with a 3-pointer to give UW its 10-point lead.
After starting forward Abou Magassa picked up two fouls in the first minute, freshman Gavin Gores entered and opened the scoring with a dunk. He finished with nine points, and the Cowboys outscored Portland by 33 points during his 21 minutes on the floor.
Wyoming plays Wednesday at Sam Houston State. Tipoff is scheduled for 5:30 p.m. in Huntsville, Texas.
