(UW Media Relations Photo)
The Cowboys’ game against the Norfolk State Spartans seemed all but over just mere minutes into the second half. The Cowboys had taken their largest lead of 24 points after freshman guard Nasir Meyer scored his first points of the game. The Spartans were shooting less than 30% from the field and seemingly had no answer offensively for a stout Cowboy defense.
It was hard to imagine any possibility of a comeback for the Spartans inside of Arena-Auditorium. The Spartans, though, continued to chip away at the Cowboys’ lead. Their shots slowly began to fall and the Cowboys’ didn’t.
Before long, a once 24-point lead was cut in half. Then, it evaporated into the single digits. By the four minute mark of the second half, the Spartans had gotten as close as seven points.
“Our energy level went down,” senior Leland Walker said. “We can’t let that happen anymore.”
Fortunately for the Cowboys, that’s as close as the Spartans would ever get as the time for a Spartan comeback would expire and the Cowboys would ultimately hold off a valiant comeback effort to win by a final of 75-67.
“A nightmare for a coach is when the result is right but the process is wrong,” a fiery head coach Sundance Wicks said postgame. “That was tonight’s tale. The process was wrong in the second half. It was right in the first half, but you have to play two halves.”
Wicks was critical of his team’s second half play, in which they were outscored by eight points. The Cowboys also turned the ball over eight times in the second frame of play and only shot 34.6% from the field while allowing the Spartans to shoot 45.2% from the field, including 5/10 from deep in that second half.
However, it was things outside of the box score that Wicks was most frustrated with.
“Tonight, guys didn’t get to play the minutes they usually get to play because [they] didn’t respect the process. Yes, maybe we were playing with some tired guys at the end of the game and that could be part of it, but I was going to die on that hill,” Wicks said.
Four players still finished with double-figures in the game, though, as Adam Harakow led the way with 18 points off the bench.
“It felt good because I know how good our team is and anyone can go off any day,” Harakow said. “So, I think just be ready for the moment and just go out there and try to enjoy it as much as I can.”
Walker and Damarion Dennis both finished with 15 points a piece, with Walker earning his 400th career assist in the contest. Khaden Bennett rounded out the scorers in double figures with 13 points while also leading the way on the glass with seven rebounds.
The Cowboys’ next challenge comes in the form of the Denver Pioneers this Wednesday. The Pioneers recently defeated Colorado State on the road by a final of 83-81.
