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Just like we all thought, Thomas Dziagwa followed up his career performance against Texas with another matching 23-point-night to deliver the axe to the Pokes’ eight-game skid. Also the Cowboys were able to hold on to a game that came down to the wire, another staple of this season. Pardon my sarcasm, but man it feels good to get back into the conference win column.
The Cowboys got their first 18 points from three’s, and even their first two ended up being an old-fashioned, and-one three pointer. Then Lindy made the classic four-point shot to give the Cowboys an early 25-12 lead.
Unfortunately the 16-point run for the Pokes was answered by a nine straight points for TCU to cut the lead to four. Duncan Demuth gave the Cowboys their first two-point play with 6:30(!!) left in the first half and the Pokes grew their lead back to 31-21 after Thomas Dziagwa’s fourth three-pointer of the first half at the 5:34 mark.
The teams then proceeded to trade buckets as the Cowboys held on to a nine point, 39-30 halftime lead. 24 of those first half points for the Pokes came off eight three-point makes.
The second half saw another flurry of punches exchanged on both sides capped by a TCU timeout after Dziagwa made a tough layup to stretch the lead to 11 with 12:14 remaining. That lead withered down to six points before Coach Boynton called a timeout of his own with 7:44 remaining following a Desmond Bane put-back dunk.
This is the point where every Cowboy fan relaxed knowing how well this team has finished games throughout the year... not. The Cowboys’ lead slowly dwindled until a clutch fade-away by Waters and a mature put-back by Likekele pushed the lead back to six. The Cowboys then made their free throws down the stretch to claim their seven-point victory.
As I said before, the Cowboys got another monster performance from Dziagwa with 23 points on 6-11 from three-point range. Waters and Likekele chipped in a cool 14 and 13 points respectively, and the Cowboys got an improved 10 points off the bench. They needed it, as Cam McGriff and Yor Anei each only had a quiet 4 points in the game.
The Cowboys next contest is the return trip to face Kansas State as the Cowboys look to avenge another (albeit much more ugly and at home) early loss.