Nevada Basketball: Wolf Pack outlasts Cowboys for first conference win

Led by Marqueze Coleman's 23 points and Cameron Oliver contributing with 15 points and eight rebounds, the Nevada Wolf Pack(9-5, 1-1 MW) defeated the Wyoming Cowboys 71-68 on Saturday afternoon in the home conference opener for the Wolf Pack. The win ends Nevada's two game losing streak and improves their home record this season to 6-0 after only going 7-8 at home last season.

Nevada started the game with a 9-2 lead but the Cowboys (7-8, 0-2 MW) went on a 12-5 scoring run midway through the first half to tie the game at 14. Wyoming was ahead of Nevada 37-34 at the half and Nevada started the second half on a 10-0 scoring run that was highlighted by Cameron Oliver playing great on both offense and defense.

The Cowboys, led by Josh Adams (26 points) and Alan Herdon (13 points), would not go away as they chipped away at Nevada's lead late in the second half. Wyoming was only down 65-63 to Nevada when Josh Adams went to the line to shoot two free throws but he went one for two at the line and on the next Wolf Pack possession, Coleman made a three pointer to give Nevada a 68-64 lead and put the game out of reach.

With the win, Nevada has matched their win total from all of last year. And given that this team is far from a finished product, this is a great coaching job that Eric Musselman (who coached the game while fighting the flu) has done so far this season with basically the same players from last year's team. Nevada's next two games will be on the road and their first road test will be on Tuesday night as they face the Fresno State Bulldogs.