Cowboys Rally Late to Beat Cardinals in OT, 94-83 [VIDEOS]

Kenny Foster scored a career-high 21 points to lead the Wyoming Cowboys to a 94-83 overtime victory against Incarnate Word Wednesday night in Laramie.

Wyoming (2-1) out-scored the Cardinals 36-15 over the final six minutes of regulation and OT. It was a turnaround from Monday’s loss, where the Cowboys gave up a late lead and lost at the end.

UW trailed by 11 with just under six minutes left. An 11-0 run tied the game at 68. The Pokes trailed 73-71 when Foster knocked down a three from the left corner to give UW its first lead since 8-7. Marcus Williams followed with a steal and slam dunk for a 76-73 lead.

After a defensive stop, Hunter Maldonado made 1-2 free throws, but a quick driving basket by UIW’s Des Balentine cut it to 77-75. Kwane Marble made 1-2 free throws with 16 seconds left. Cardinals guard Drew Lutz then knocked down a tying 3-pointer with six seconds left that forced overtime.

Wyoming owned OT, as they out-scored Incarnate Word, 16-5. Foster scored half of those points, while Xavier DuSell and Hunter Thompson knocked down triples that sealed the victory.

Foster scored 11 of his points in the last 1:26 of regulation and through overtime. That included a pair of big 3-pointers. He finished 6-8 from the field, including 3-3 from behind the arc, and went 6-7 at the free-throw line.

Williams followed with 20 points and six assists. Maldonado had 14 points, seven rebounds, and eight assists. Marble chipped in 12 off the bench, while DuSell added 11 points.

Wyoming shot 47 percent from the floor. They were 10-25, 40 percent, from deep. UW went 26-35, 74 percent, at the foul line. They won the rebounding battle, 43-30, which included 12 offensive boards. That led to 11-second chance points. The Cowboys scored 19 points off 15 UIW turnovers and got 46 points from their bench.

Incarnate Word (1-2) shot 51.6 percent in the game. They were 10-19 from deep (52.6 percent). Keaston Willis scored 25 points to lead the Cardinals.

Both teams got off to a slow start. It was 11-10 Incarnate Word just eight minutes into the game. A 13-5 run by the Cardinals pushed their lead to 24-15 at the six-minute mark of the first half. Wyoming trimmed it to four points a couple of times, but UIW had an answer. It was 33-27 at halftime. The Cowboys shot just 30 percent in the first half.

Through the first 14 minutes of the second half, it was more of the same. While UW shot the ball better, the Cardinals always had an answer. They built their lead to double figures just over four minutes into the second period. The Pokes cut it to 53-48 with about 10 minutes remaining, but Incarnate Word scored on back-to-back possessions for a 10-point lead. It hovered around that margin until a DuSell 3-pointer started Wyoming’s comeback with 5:41 left. That cut it from 68-57 to 68-60. The Cowboys made their move from there.

Next up is the first road game of the season. Wyoming heads to Oregon State on Sunday, Dec. 6, to play the Beavers. Tip-off is at 2 p.m., Mountain Time. The game is available on the PAC-12 Network.