Nevada men down Wyoming in large fashion:
The No. 6/7 Nevada Wolf Pack, the highest ranked team to come to the Arena-Auditorium in five years was too much for the Cowboys to overcome in a 82-49 defeat on Saturday evening. The Cowboys were held to a season low 49 points on a season low 30 percent from the field. The Wolf Pack move to 24-1 overall and 11-1 in the MW, as Wyoming falls to 6-19 overall and 2-10 in the conference.
“Nevada is a very good basketball team,” Wyoming head coach Allen Edwards said. “Their mentality coming on the road and playing as hard as they did is a credit to Coach Musselman, his staff and their players. They did a great job of executing their game plan. It was a learning experience for our guys. I appreciate the fans for sticking around til the end. I thought the student section and our fans did a great job of continuing to encourage our guys until the very end of the game.”
Wyoming was led by senior guard Justin James with 16 points. He has scored in double-figures 22 times this season and 85 times in his career. He led the Pokes with four assists and added seven rebounds. Freshman Trevon “TJ” Taylor added 13 points and led Wyoming with eight rebounds.
“In our game earlier this week at Utah State, we saw the passive TJ (Taylor), but after watching film with him and addressing that with him this week he came out tonight with great energy,” Edwards said. He did a good job of being aggressive and taking shots when he was open. I told him that is what we need to see from him every night.”
The Pokes were 15-of-50 from the field and 6-of-24 from behind the arc. Wyoming was averaging 12 three pointers per game over the previous three contests. The Wolf Pack shot 50 percent from the field and owned a 40-28 advantage on the glass.
The Wolf Pack raced out to a 9-3 lead in the opening three-plus minutes. Cody Martin did the damage for Nevada with seven of those points. Wyoming’s James would hit three free throws to make it an 11-8 game with 14:36 left in the half, but the Wolf Pack’s Jazz Johnson added a triple and a pair of free throws from Tre’Shawn Thurman made it a 16-18 game less than a minute later.
Nevada went on an 8-0 run over 3:30 to build a 24-10 advantage. The Wolf Pack were shooting 64 percent from the field going 9-of-14 to that point. The run was halted by a free throw from James. The Pokes went 1-of-9 from the field during the stretch.
Nevada built the advantage to as much as 17 points with 9:20 left in the opening frame. Taylor continued to be a threat offensively moving to nine points on the night making it a 32-18 game with just under five minutes left.
Johnson closed out the half with a three pointer to give the Wolf Pack a 36-20 lead at the break. Wyoming was held to 27 percent from the field with Nevada shooting a solid 50 percent.
Junior A.J. Banks opened the second half with an alley-oop off a nice dish from James. But the Pokes would go 1-of-8 from the field after allowing the Wolf Pack to build a 45-25 lead with 14:40 left in the game.
The Pokes went on a 5-0 run with a jumper from Taylor and a triple from Banks to make it a 48-30 game with 13:15 left. The bucket from Taylor got him to double-figures for the seventh time this season and the first since playing at Boise State.
Nevada would answer with five made buckets in a row to build the lead to 60-33 with under nine minutes remaining. Nevada’s Trey Porter became a force in the paint helping the Wolf Pack build a 31 point lead at 74-43 with three minutes remaining and would take the game 82-49.
The Wolf Pack had five players in double-figures on the night. Trey Porter led Nevada with 14 points. Thurman finished the evening with a game-high 12 rebounds and added 11 points. Jazz Johnson was 4-of-5 from the three point line.
Wyoming returns home on Tuesday at 8 p.m. hosting UNLV in a contest televised on CBS Sports Network.
Cowgirls knock off Lady Wolfpack:
The Cowgirls held their third-straight opponent under 40.0 percent shooting, and timely baskets by Wyoming led to a 55-51 win over Nevada (8-15, 4-8 MW) on Saturday. Wyoming (16-6, 9-3 MW) have now won seven straight games, the longest streak in the Mountain West.
“To win on the road, as we always say, we’re looking for breakthroughs,” said head coach Joe Legerski. “It’s tough to play out here. I think Nevada’s a solid ball club. They just create issues for you, trying to defend against Redmond and Briggs, who are as good of an inside, outside combination as you play against. We really stepped up.”
The Cowgirls were led by senior Marta Gomez, who scored 13 points to reach double figures for the ninth-consecutive game. She also grabbed five rebounds, while senior Bailee Cotton led the team with 12 rebounds and chipped in six points.
Freshman Quinn Weidemann scored 11 points with a pair of assists, while classmate Karla Erjavec scored nine points, four assists and five rebounds. Junior Taylor Rusk scored 12 points to go with four rebounds and three assists.
The Cowgirls shot 41.8 percent (23-of-55) from the field, 21.4 percent (3-of-14) from three and 100.0 percent (6-of-6) from the free throw line. It’s the second time this season the Cowgirls haven’t missed a free throw. Wyoming had 12 assists and 12 turnovers on the day.
Nevada was led by Jade Redmon’s 14 points and three assists, while Terae Briggs added 12 points and six rebounds.
The Wolf Pack shot 37.9 percent (22-of-58) from the field, 11.1 percent (1-of-9) from three and 50.0 percent (6-of-12) from the free throw line. The Wolf Pack are the third straight Wyoming foe to shoot under 40 percent from the field. Nevada had 13 assists and eight turnovers.
Briggs opened the game’s scoring, and Rusk converted a jumper to answer. After an unsportsmanlike foul led to two free throws and a three for Gomez, Wyoming held an 11-6 lead. But a quick 5-0 run tied the game at the 1:19 mark. After a Cowgirl basket and a Wolf Pack free throw, the Cowgirls held a 13-12 lead at the first quarter break.
Nevada scored a layup to start the second quarter and take a one point lead, 14-13. Gomez ended a 5:39 minute scoreless drought with a steal and a fastbreak layup, and the Cowgirls trailed, 16-15 at the 4:37 mark. Gomez’s layup sparked an 8-0 run capped by an Erjavec jumper, and the Cowgirls held a 21-16 lead at the 2:25 mark. The teams traded baskets, and a Weidemann pull-up jumper at the buzzer gave the Cowgirls a 27-24 lead at the halftime break.
Nevada brought itself within one with a jumper to start the second half, and Gomez scored a layup to ignite a 6-0 run capped by a pair of Rusk free throws. After the teams went back-and-forth scoring field goals, the Cowgirls held a 35-30 with 4:02 left in the third quarter. However, the Wolf Pack scored the last basket of the quarter after the teams went score-for-score, and Wyoming led 39-36 at the end of three quarters.
Weidemann started the fourth frame with a triple off an Erjavec assist. Later, Erjavec was left unguarded at the top of the key and nailed a three to put the Cowgirls up 49-42 with 6:21 remaining. Weidemann drove the baseline to convert a layup, but the Wolf Pack answered, and the Cowgirls held the 51-46 lead with 4:34 to play. With under two minutes to play, the Cowgirls held the 55-49 after a Rusk layup.
The Wolf Pack missed a pair of desperation threes with under 30 seconds to play, but grabbed the offensive rebounds both times. After a Cowgirl foul, Nevada missed both free throws, and the Cowgirls grabbed the rebound with just 19.4 seconds to play. With 15 seconds to play, Nevada scored a layup, but the Cowgirls dribbled out the 55-51 win.
The Cowgirls return to action on Wednesday, Feb. 20, when they travel to face UNLV in a game that tips off at 7 p.m. (MT).