UNLV Can’t Hang On Against Wyoming

UNLV is technically the underdog in this game, but they were playing on their home court, so shouldn’t they have a little bit of home court advantage right? Wrong. This is the Mountain West Tournament and there is no such thing as home court advantage.

The Rebels started off slow by getting outscored by Wyoming 11-4 within the first six minutes of the the first half. After Donovan Williams made two free throws for the Rebels, Wyoming went on a 7-0 run. UNLV’s next points came Bryce Hamilton dunk with 7:33 seconds left in the half.

The Cowboys went up by 13 after the Hamilton dunk. Williams then turned it on putting the Rebels back in contention for this game.

There was about two minutes of no scoring until Royce Hamm Jr. knocked down a three. Williams then went on to score four more points to put the Rebels down only seven. After trading lay-ups the score was 29-22 with 29 seconds left. Wyoming made two free-throws right at the end of the half.

The first half ended with a score of 31-22, Cowboys.

The second half started off with a jumper from Hamilton. It was followed by a Jordan McCabe lay-up to start the half on a good note for the Rebels. Hamilton was scoring for the Rebels, but the Cowboys kept scoring.

Rebels went on a 8-0 run getting them back within on after Williams knocked down another three. He then made two free throws to take the lead for the first time since the start of the game. Wyoming took the lead back shortly after that with two shots from Graham Ike.

Hamilton went on another run to give the Rebels a three point lead with eight minutes left in the half. The Cowboys then started scoring and took the lead back with five minutes left to play. Williams then got the lead back for the Rebels a little under three minutes to play. He then scored again going up four.

Xavier Dusell for the Cowboys then went on a 5-0 run by himself. He ended the run with a three to put the Cowboys up one with 29 seconds left. After a UNLV foul the Cowboys made two more free throws. Hamilton tried to tie the game with a three in the closing seconds, but unfortunately missed.

The game ended with a final score of 59-56, Wyoming.

Hamilton finished with 22 points and Williams off the bench had 20, but those stat lines were not enough to get the Rebels the win. They were the only players to have over ten points.

It was a good season for the Rebels, but they could not get the job done in the tournament.

Also shout out and congratulations to the UNLV Lady Rebels on winning the Mountain West Tournament in Women’s College Basketball this past week.