University of Wyoming — The Cowboys caught fire in the second half of Wednesday night’s must-win basketball game against the Coastal Carolina Chanticleers, rattling off 48 points for an 81-57 win and forcing a third and final game for the College Basketball Invitational presented by Five Four Championship. Junior guard Alexander Aka Gorski scored 14 points in the second half to lead the Pokes to the win. The final game of the series is set for Friday at 5 p.m. in the Arena-Auditorium on ESPNU.
“Loved the crowd tonight! The support from the fans and their energy was really a sixth man for us,” UW head coach Allen Edwards said. “We had a different mindset going into tonight’s game. We talked a lot about defending and rebounding the basketball after Monday’s game. I’ve always been a big proponent in that our offense will find itself. I thought we started the first half and the second half with what we call three kills, meaning three stops in a row against our opponent. I think that set the tone for the rest of the game.”
Friday’s game will be the first postseason championship game for UW since the Pokes played in the NIT title game in 1986.
Sophomore Justin James led the Cowboys in scoring for the ninth time in the last 11 games with a game-high 21 points. His 12th 20-point game of the season lifted the Cowboys to a crucial victory on 8-of-13 shooting from the field. James also recorded eight rebounds, three assists and two blocks. Aka Gorski scored 14 of his 17 points in the second half, including 11-straight points to put the game away. Aka Gorski netted five triples on the night on just seven attempts. Junior Alan Herndon led the Pokes on the boards with 10 rebounds, his fourth game this season with double-figure rebounds. Senior Jason McManamen now has 1,028 points in his career after eight on Wednesday.
The Pokes shot 45 percent from the field and held Coastal Carolina to 31 percent from the field. It was seventh time this season UW has held an opponent to under 35 percent shooting. The Cowboys also grabbed 45 rebounds to CCU’s 36 including grabbing 38 defensive rebounds. 

“In terms of going to the glass tonight, I felt our guys did a better job of committing to boxing out and rebounding the basketball.” Edwards said. “Getting the ball up and down the court and picking them up defensively full court I thought also helped.”
The Pokes got off to a 9-2 lead in the opening minutes of the game on a run that included three pointers from Jeremy Lieberman and James and a dunk from Jonathan Barnes on a slick pass from McManamen. The Cowboys built the lead to 14-6 on a banked-in three pointer from Herndon with under 15 minutes remaining in the second half.
Turnovers plagued the Pokes early on with eight in the opening 10 minutes. Cowboy errors allowed the Chanticleers to make it a 17-15 game with just under 10 minutes left in the opening half. 
The Chanticleers held UW without a point for over four minutes, keeping the Pokes within reach at 23-17. The Pokes countered, holding CCU scoreless for nearly five minutes, but it was only a 25-20 advantage for the Pokes with under three minutes left in the opening stanza.
The Cowboys took a 33-27 lead into the break on a fade-away jumper from James with the clock running out. A late triple form Alexander helped propel UW to its halftime advantage. Much like the first game of the series, Coastal Carolina dominated the offensive glass with seven in the opening half while forcing 10 UW turnovers. The Cowboys entered the game 17-1 when leading at the half, and had no plans to buck the trend tonight. 
The Pokes opened the second half with a pair of tough three-point plays. McManamen hit the first one and James added another as UW took a 39-27 lead one minute into the second frame. The Cowboys would later hit six straight field goals highlighted by two dunks by Jordan Naughton and a triple by Cody Kelley, making it a 53-38 game at the 13:13 mark of the second stanza.
The lead slowly grew to 19 points just under the 10-minute mark, but UW did not slow down. In a five-minute span, the Pokes exploded on a 15-7 run led by Alexander Aka Gorski who bookended the streak with a jumper at the 9:37 mark and his third-consecutive triple with 4:37 remaining. The 27-point margin was more than enough to secure the win for the Cowboys.
After six players reached double-digit scoring in the first game of the series, Wyoming allowed just two Chanticleer players to reach double figures on Wednesday. Artur Labinowicz and Elijah Wilson each tallied 10 points on a combined 6-of-19 from the field. Coastal Carolina shot 31.3 percent from the field and 19.2 percent from beyond the arc, just the second time this season a Wyoming opponent has been held to less than 20 percent from three-point range. 
Friday’s game is set for 5 p.m. and will be the Pokes’ 38th game this season — the most in a single-season in school history.