Former WNCC basketball player Paco Cruz flying high at Wyoming

From the Laramie Boomarang

Of all the players in the Mountain West Conference you might expect to have played the most minutes, Francisco Cruz wouldn’t be one of them.

But the University of Wyoming junior guard is tops among all players in conference games.

Out of a possible 160 minutes over four games, Cruz has played in all but three of them.

Even he didn’t know about his ranking until he was told on Thursday.

“He has been real consistent and efficient,” said junior point guard JayDee Luster of Cruz, who also is his roommate. “He’s mistake free, and that makes it hard to pull a guy out of the game.”

Durable is another way to describe Cruz, who transferred from Western Nebraska Community College this season. He is one of only two Cowboys who have played in every game this season.

He is fourth on the team in scoring (8.3 ppg), and is the team’s best 3-point shooter at 40.6 percent. He also has made 22 of 25 free throws.

In MWC play Cruz averages 10.8 points, second-best on the team. But his 3-point shooting has dipped to 27.8 percent on 5 of 18 shooting.

Cruz came to UW with a reputation of being a perimeter shooter, but his game has evolved into more than that.

“I know now I’m not going to get a wide-open shot every time,” he said. “I’ve got to create my own shot sometimes. That’s been the difference for me; I’m understanding the game more.

“I think I do it naturally. From high school to junior college and to here, there were always challenges for me to score, so I had to find different ways to do it. I just find a way to do it.”

Cruz is coming off an uneventful six-point game on 3 of 7 shooting in UW’s 68-51 home loss to Utah last Saturday. He will need to be more productive when the Cowboys (8-10 overall, 1-3 MWC) play at Air Force (10-7, 1-3) at 1:30 p.m. Saturday.

But Cruz didn’t turn the ball over, and he is averaging less than two turnovers per game in MWC play.

“I think Paco, the last five or six games, has played really well,” coach Heath Schroyer said. “It usually takes JUCO guys half a year or a year to figure it out.

“Early, Paco struggled with the speed of the game and things like that. I thought he turned the ball over a little too much. But the last five games, he’s definitely gotten better.”