Leland Walker finished with 24 points, six assists and five rebounds but it wasn’t quite enough as Wyoming lost its first road game of the season 78-70 to Sam Houston State on Wednesday night at Johnson Coliseum.

“We told our guys you have to pack two things and that is defense and rebounding,” UW head coach Sundance Wicks.  “We defended well enough to win and rebounded well enough to win, but we weren’t tougher than our problems tonight, we weren’t tough enough to be in the moment and go make the free throws and plays we needed to make.”

The Cowboys (4-1) made six more field goals but could not overcome a dramatic discrepancy at the free throw line where the Bearkats (2-2) finished 29-for-33 (88%) and the visitors went 9-for-22 (41%).

Nasir (Naz) Meyer scored 11 points and Abou Magassa added 10 points to finish in double figures scoring along with Walker.

Matija Belic grabbed an offensive rebound and scored as UW came out with great energy to start the second half.

Walker and Meyer each made a layup and a 3-pointer to get the Cowboys within 46-44 at the first media timeout of the second half.

After Sam Houston State took a seven-point lead, UW fought back and cut the deficit to 62-60 on a 3 off the glass by Walker.

Jared Harris and Belic each had an open look behind the arc that would have given the Cowboys the lead but both 3s rimmed out.

A dunk by Magassa made it a one-possession game (70-67) with 2:27 remaining but that was as close as UW would get down the stretch.

The Cowboys trailed 37-32 at the intermission despite holding Sam Houston State to 37% from the field. The Bearkats were 11-for-11 at the free throw line while UW only attempted five free throws.

Walker had 10 points, four rebounds and four assists at halftime to lead the visitors.

Meyer made a 3-pointer and then converted an acrobatic move in the paint to give UW a 14-13 lead.

Isaiah Manning hit a pair of 3s and then completed a three-point play to give Sam Houston State a 27-21 lead with 7:25 remaining in the first half.

Gavin Gores, the reigning Mountain West freshman of the week, threw down his team-leading ninth dunk of the season and made another layup to spark a late surge by the Pokes.

Harris, who scored a career-high 16 points during the 93-56 win over Portland, converted a transition layup to get the Cowboys within 35-30.

UW was 12-for-23 (52.2%) inside the arc and 2-for-11 (18%) on 3s in the first half.

The Cowboys led the all-time series 2-1, including a 98-84 win in their only previous trip to Huntsville in 1990.

UW returns home to play Norfolk State on Sunday in the Arena-Auditorium (2 p.m., MW Network).