It may have been against the last-place team in the conference and it was a game that pitted the two worst teams in the conference, but Wyoming’s 58-49 win over Air Force was one of the Cowboys’ better overall team efforts of the season.

It wasn’t always pretty, but UW (10-19 overall, 3-12 MWC) overcame an 11-point first-half deficit and trailed by just two at halftime.

True freshman Daylen Harrison gave the Cowboys a big-time boost in the first half with three 3-pointers.

Then senior Ryan Dermody, the only senior for the Cowboys, gave UW a shot in the arm with four treys in the second half.

In all, UW was 9 of 23 from behind the arch, including 5 of 10 in the second half.

This was a season-low in terms of points allowed for UW — by a lot. The previous low was 61 against Boise State on Nov. 21.

Defense and 3-point shooting: two categories UW at the bottom in the Mountain West Conference. Yet it was the strength in this game. For more on that see my column in Wednesday’s paper.

Some other notes from the game:

–UW secured the eighth seed in the MWC Tournament next week, where it will play Air Force which solidified the ninth seed.

–The Cowboys won for the first time in 16 games this season when scoring less than 70 points.

–Sophomore point guard JayDee Luster had five assists and is within two of the top 10 for a single-season at UW.

–Luster, at 5-9, led UW with six rebounds.

See Wednesday’s paper for more on the game. And for Air Force’s take, check out Falcons’ beat writer Jake Schaller’s story and blog at http://www.gazette.com/sections/sports/afa/

The Wyoming men’s basketball team beat Air Force 58-49 Tuesday night at the Arena-Auditorium in Laramie to snap its eight-game losing streak, while extending Air Force’s losing skid to eight games.

UW outscored Air Force 10-2 in the final two minutes.

The Cowboys are now 10-19 overall and 3-12 in Mountain West Conference play. Air Force fell to 9-19, 1-14.

Four UW players scored in double figures, led by 13 points by junior forward Djibril Thiam.

For more on the game, see Wednesday’s Wyoming Tribune Eagle.

Wyoming trails Air Force 25-23 at halftime Tuesday at the Arena-Auditorium in Laramie.

UW trailed by as many as 11.

True freshman Daylen Harrison leads the Cowboys with nine points. He was 3 for 3 from 3-point range.

UW had five turnovers in the game’s first nine minutes, but had just seven in the half.

Senior Ryan Dermody started in place of sophomore Arthur Bouedo on Senior Night. Dermody has yet to score and is 0 of 4 from the field.