LARAMIE – The Pokes finally experienced what the Dome of Doom feels like.
 
Wyoming was 9-3 at home entering Saturday's game against San Jose State at the Arena-Auditorium.
 
The margin of victory for head coach Sundance Wicks' team was 27 points in the wins and the margin of defeat was 15 points in the losses.
 
With the score tied 62-62 in the final minute, the crowd of 4,125 helped the Cowboys (12-8, 3-6 Mountain) snap a four-game losing streak as Damarion Dennis was credited for a layup on a goaltending call with 13 seconds remaining and Leland Walker iced the game with two free throws with 2 seconds left.
 
In between the scores on the offensive end, the roars echoed through the Arena-Auditorium after a defensive stop by UW.
 
"Fear, panic, anxiety, stress … you feel that when you go to other venues. The players can feel that," Wicks said. "You still get physiological responses to an external stimulus as a player unless you're super cool, calm and collected. So, when you can create physiological responses to an external stimulus, when our fans can get loud, when they can force a guy into a turnover or a bad decision or they can't call a play, and they've got to call a timeout because they can't hear and need to set something up … that's home-court advantage.
 
"We needed a margin and (the crowd) gave us one today."
 
The Cowboys are undefeated this season when four or more players score in double figures.
 
Dennis (16 points on 7-for-11 shooting), Walker (13 points), Gavin Gores (15 points) and Khaden Bennett (11 points) picked up the slack with Nasir (Naz) Meyer missing his second consecutive game in concussion protocol.
 
In the 81-65 loss to Boise State earlier in the week, Walker scored a career-high 30 points and no other Pokes reached double figures.
 
"Our secret of success is sharing. That's our secret," Wicks said. "Leland carried us last game. It was fun to watch a guy score (30 points) … but it's not fun to lose. It's fun to win. It's fun to watch guys all step up and have double-figure games. That's success for us."
 
At the end of the 63-60 loss at Fresno State the game before the home stand, Walker missed a shot with a chance to tie the score in the final minute. Only three UW players scored in double figures.
 
"Leland took a tough shot against Fresno down two, now he drew two (defenders) and he kicked it to Dennis and Dennis made the easy play, which was pop and punch," Wicks said of what turned out to be the game-winning basket against San Jose State. "He was a hero because he made the right play. He was a socially conscious citizen, right? Just making the right play, helping somebody cross the street. Not all heroes wear capes."
 
UW needed to experience the thrill of victory after the agony of recent defeats, especially with a daunting upcoming schedule looming.
 
"We definitely needed this. This losing streak has been hell on all of us," Dennis said. "We just needed to keep competing and keep practicing hard in order to improve. …
 
"We couldn't take another loss. So, this was huge for us, and huge for the whole team."
 
The Cowboys matched last season's win total with 11 regular season games remaining.
 
UW faces Utah State this Wednesday in Logan before the Border War against Colorado State on Saturday in Laramie.
 
"I told our guys this stretch coming up there are going to be a lot of tests," Wicks said. "Your fortunes could change, good or bad. I always like to look at the relentlessly optimistic approach to this stuff. We've got a lot of great opportunities coming up here."
 
Follow Ryan for more stories on Wyoming athletics on X at @By_RyanThorburn on Facebook at Wyoming Athletics and Instagram at wyoathletics. Also follow him at Pokes Insider at Gowyo.com/pokesinsider.
 
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