Wyoming Cowboys hold on for 73-69 win over Cal State Fullerton

Kobe Newton scores 20 points to lead Pokes to first true road win of the season

FULLERTON, Calif. – Kobe Newton returned to his home away from home and provided his family in attendance with an early holiday gift.

Wyoming's senior shooting guard made his first six shots, including five 3-pointers, and knocked down two clutch free throws with 4.3 seconds left to lead the hot-shooting Pokes to a 73-69 victory over Cal State Fullerton on Sunday at Titan Gym.

Newton, who played at nearby Fullerton College before transferring to UW last season, finished with 20 points to lead the Cowboys (7-5 overall, 1-0 Mountain West) to their first true road win of the season.

"Well, Merry Christmas Poke fans, winning is hard," UW head coach Sundance Wicks said after his team held on after nearly squandering a 19-point lead. "The present under the tree when you unwrap it says, 'Good luck, life is a struggle.'

"It's just really hard. You watch a lot of games at Christmas and you see teams win by 20 and lose by 20, win by 40 and lose by 40. You never know what you're going to get in your Christmas stocking when you play a game on (December) 22^nd or 23^rd. We told our guys we want you to play present before you open presents."

Obi Agbim (16 points), Touko Tainamo (13 points) and Jordan Nesbitt (11 points) also scored in double figures as UW shot 51% from the field with 10 made 3s and 81.3% from the foul line.

Donovan Oday led the Titans (4-9 overall, 0-2 Big West) with 18 points, including two free throws to make the score 71-69 with 7.3 seconds left. Newton closed the game out on the other end after getting fouled.

Newton made a 3 off the glass to give UW its largest lead, 53-34, with 16:13 remaining. CSF clawed back to within 54-46 after a 10-0 run capped with a 3 by Zion Richardson.

Matija Belic stopped the bleeding with a basket on one end and a block at the rim on the other.

CSF made another push and cut its deficit to 60-55 before Donatie Allen checked in for the first time and buried a 3 to give UW an eight-point cushion with 5:18 remaining.

"Dontaie Allen, I've never been more proud of a guy in my entire life," Wicks said. "It hasn't been an easy stretch for him and we talk about resilience a lot. That's the Christmas spirit right here, man. He was a great teammate. I had coaches sitting next to those guys who weren't playing the last couple games to see what their attitude was like. He was phenomenal. To me, that is who you are for the rest of your life, a phenomenal human being."

Tainamo took a charge for the second time in the game and Obi scored on consecutive possessions to make the score 67-58.

After Newton's first miss, Richardson knocked down a 3 on the other end to cut UW's advantage to 69-63 with 1:55 remaining.

Agbim made two free throws with 10 seconds left before Newton iced the game.

The Cowboys, who shot 75.9% from the field in the first half in Wednesday's 92-55 home win over Bellarmine, had another hot start by making 14 of 22 (63.6%) of their shots while taking a 39-29 lead into the intermission against CSF.

Agbim had 10 points and Kobe Newton added nine on a combined 7-for-9 shooting at the break.

UW held the Titans to 39.3% from the field but allowed 14 points in the paint and seven second-chance points.

The Pokes stormed out to an early 9-3 lead after 3s by Agbim and Jordan Nesbitt and an old-fashioned 3-point play by Newton.

CSF took its first lead, 22-20, on a basket by center Zachary Visentin with 7:00 remaining. After a 3 by Boise State transfer Kobe Young tied the score 27-27, UW finished the first half on a 12-2 run.

Tainamo finished a 3-point play and Agbim buried a jumper with 2 seconds remaining to extend the Cowboys' lead to 10 points.

"Prior to this we were minus-18 for the last two games in closing out the half and we closed out the half on a 9-0 run, which was really good," Wicks said.

The Cowboys will play Nevada in the Mountain West home opener on Saturday at the Arena-Auditorium (2 p.m., MW Network).