LARAMIE, Wyo.— A 13-point second-half deficit was erased but the game-tying basket was waived off on a phantom charge call on Kevin Mays with 5.7 second remaining Wednesday night as CSUB fell in their first road game 68-64 at Wyoming.
The Roadrunners, trailing 54-43 with just over 8 minutes to play, embarked on a 15-2 run, twice pulling within one with a chance to tie but Wyoming managed to hold the lead on both occasions.
With just over a minute remaining, Wyoming stretched the lead to three points following a pair of Josh Adams free throws. Damiyne Durham would tie the game on a difficult three-pointer with 33 seconds to play. Wyoming took the lead again with just over 17 seconds remaining following a Jonathan Barnes dunk.
The Roadrunners would then bring the ball into the offensive end and feed Mays in the key with just over six seconds left. Mays shot went in off the backboard but was waived off after he was called for the charge. Arena replays clearly showed Josh McManaman was not set defensively, the call erased the game-tying basket and potential game-winning free throw from Mays had it been called a defensive block.
The next play also was questionable as McManaman appeared to be out of bounds when he caught the in bound pass. The official claimed the foul came prior to McManaman touching the ball. He would make both three-pointers to secure the Wyoming win.
“There were a couple of tough plays there at the end that I thought the calls were definitely questionable but that's part of it when you're on the road,” said head coach Rod Barnes. “You're going to get those but I thought our guys hung in there and I thought we did what we needed to do to give ourselves a chance to win.”
It was a tough road test for the Roadrunners who had trouble finding their offensive rhythm in the first half struggling with turnovers giving the ball away ten times, Although the Cowboys only managed four points off the turnover, the lack of scoring kept the Roadrunners trailing. CSUB also managed just 1-5 from three-point range in the half and was 1-of-6 to end the half while the Cowboys were 3-of-3 including a buzzer-beating three-pointer to go into the break leading 27-22.
The second half saw much better defensive from the Roadrunners who after trailing by 13 held Wyoming without a field goal for the next 8:28. An Alan Herndon three-pointer would end that drought and at the time put Wyoming up by six with 2:37 to play. Wyoming shot the ball well all night from three-point range going 9-of-22 while Herndon finished with a career-high 16 points. Leading scorer Josh Adams paced the Cowboys with 23 including 12-of-13 from the free-throw line while Wyoming was a near-perfect 21-of-22 from the line as a team.
“I don't think we played as well as we are capable of playing for the entire game but when we do that these are the type of games that will come to us.”
The Roadrunners were led by Kevin Mays who recorded his fourth double-double of the season with 17 points and 12 rebounds. Aly Ahmed added 12 points on 6-of-13 from the field while Durham scored 10 for the 'Runners, nine of which came from three-point range. CSUB shot 24-of-55 (44%) from the field but were just 4-of-13 (31%) from three-point range in the loss.
The win was the 15th-straight non-conference win for Wyoming at Arena-Auditorium. It marked the first time in the series history that CSUB has scored more than 60 points against the Cowboys who are the defending Mountain West Tournament champions.
CSUB heads to Saint Mary's on Sunday where the Gaels are off to a 4-0 start. That game will tip off at 5 P.M. and is available on Newstalk 1180 and 96.1 FM KERN.
