By STEPHEN GORDON
Following his Cowboys' 72-60 victory over 1-19 BYU Saturday night, University of Wyoming head coach Joby Wright paid respects to a team he felt deserved it.
'BYU's in a tough situation. They're young but they're showing character and we expected them to play hard tonight,' Wright said.
There was a brief pause in the room before Wright concluded his remarks. 'They're not scared,' he said. 'BYU's going to get somebody soon. I'm glad it wasn't us.'
There seemed to be a sigh of relief in his voice as he exhaled. At the half, the game was deadlocked at 24-24, giving the 7,318 fans in attendance a sparkle of hope that an upset was in the making.
The Cougars led the Cowboys through most of the first half. They caused problems with effective inside play from their front court of Jeff Campbell, Justin Weidauer and Eric Nielsen.
But with about six minutes remaining in the half, the jinx that's been scourging the team all season re-emerged. It successfully worked its denigrating magic.
It started with Weidauer's ankle at the 6:20 mark. It forced him to leave the game, and he didn't return until midway through the second half.
At the start of the second half, the jinx made its presence official with the resurgence of Wyoming's Jeron Roberts. He scored 16 points in those next 20 minutes.
'After that spurt, we couldn't get back,' Ingle said.
Leading the Cougars in scoring was Campbell, who finished with 24 points. Weidauer finished with 16 points and a team-high nine rebounds.