Pokes’ Furious Comeback Bid Falls Short in Sin City

LAS VEGAS, Nev., -- Sundance Wicks predicted a dog fight.

It was all of that -- and more.

The Wyoming Cowboys overcame a 16-point first half deficit and took a lead in the second frame, but a last-second prayer fell short in a 73-70 loss to eighth-seeded UNLV on Wednesday afternoon in the first round of the Mountain West Men’s Basketball Championship inside the Thomas & Mack Center in Las Vegas.

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"We had two shots at the end of the game that were both good looks. I'm not going to sit up here talking about would've, should've, could've... I'm going to tip my cap to UNLV. They came out with hair on fire in the first half, and that really kind of put us on our heels. We had a big hole to dig out of, which is a testament to our guys who have been resilient all year long,” UW head coach Sundance Wicks said. "They played an unbelievable second half to put us in position to go make the plays. We did that with a sophomore in Damarion Dennis and two freshmen in Gavin and Naz and a heck of a senior leader in Leland Walker.

"We're not going to shed any tears up here right now, because we're going to try to keep playing postseason basketball. That's our No. 1 goal is to try to play with this team for as long as we can ... I just want this experience to go on. There's some teams where you just know they love playing, and these guys love playing the game of basketball.”

The Cowboys shot 37 percent from the field in the contest and were held to only three makes from behind the arc on 21 attempts. UNLV connected on 44 percent of its shots and were 15-of-26 from the field in the opening 20 minutes for 58 percent.

The Pokes held a 43-21 advantage on the glass and grabbed 21 offensive rebounds.

Wyoming was led in scoring by forward Gavin Gores with 15 points, as he added five rebounds. He had 11 second half points. Damarion Dennis added 13 points and led the team with 11 rebounds for his first career double-double. Naz Meyer added 14 points and seven rebounds. Leland Walker added eight points and eight rebounds along with six assists.

Neither team could find an advantage early with the contest being a 6-6 game until the Runnin’ Rebel hit the first three of the game for a 9-6 lead with 16 minutes left in the first half. The Pokes would struggle finishing at the rim with UNLV pushing the lead to 15-10 with under 14 minutes left in the opening frame.

The Pokes would make 1-of-10 attempts, as teams traded dunks, but then a three from the Runnin’ Rebels, made it a 25-15 game halfway through the first half. It ended up being an 10-0 run and a 30-15 lead.

The Runnin’ Rebels continued the pressure on both ends and used seven-straight makes for a 37-21 lead with under four minutes left in the first half. Uriyah Rojas would hit the first three of the game for the Pokes for a 13-point game, but UNLV would make it a 44-31 game at the half.

"We didn't come out with the energy we needed to," Walker said. "But, in the second half, I felt like we picked it up really well. We can't rely on making shots in the first half. I feel like we relied on trying to make shots and then not playing defense."

The Cowboys opened the first half on an 8-2 run to make it a 46-39 game with under 17 minutes remaining. Gores highlighted the run with a slam that got the Wyoming fan base to its feet. Meyer would lead the charge getting to the line and the Pokes made it a 48-44 game with 14 minutes remaining.

Wyoming continued the pressure with UNLV going without a bucket for over three minutes. Dennis added a three pointer and made it 49-48 game with 13:31 remaining in favor of UNLV. It was a 17-5 run for the Brown and Gold to open the second half.

The Pokes went on scoring drought of over three minutes with UNLV making it a 66-48 game with 11 minutes remaining. Wyoming answered with a 10-0 run themselves over nearly four minutes and built a 58-55 lead.

"I want to say this about Wyoming, Sundance Wicks is an outstanding coach," UNLV bench boss Josh Pastner said postgame. "They're very well-coached. They have really good players. They play as anyone else in this league. Over the last month of the season, they've won five of six, so I knew that was going to be a tough game, because they're really good -- really good.

"I want to give a lot of credit to coach Wicks and their team, their program and their staff, because, like I said, they've got really good players and they're a really good basketball team."

UNLV battled and would take a 63-62 lead on a three-pointer with 3:43 remaining. The teams traded the lead for the next two minutes including a putback slam from Gores for a 68-68. Gores gave the Pokes a 70-68 lead, but Kimani Hamilton added an and-one play with 19 seconds remaining for a 71-70 lead for UNLV.

The Pokes had a chance to take the lead, but the shot just came short in a 73-70 loss.

The Runnin’ Rebels were led by Hamilton with 23 points on the afternoon with six rebounds. Dra Gibbs-Lawhorn added 15 points all coming in the first half. Walter brown added a team-high 10 rebounds.

"You got to give Wyoming their credit," said Gibbs-Lawhorn, who was shutout over the final 20 minutes. "They played great defense on me in second half. I even told the coach after the game, 'Good defensive plan.'"

The Cowboys are 18-14 overall and won five of the last seven games to close the season.

Will there be another game on the docket?

"We got to go get a postseason win in one of these tournaments," Wicks said. "We have to play postseason again. I want them to keep feeling these moments and keep having these moments. To fight for championships, you have to put yourself in championship environments and go play for a tournament, go play another tournament and reset and start all over again."

* A UW press release contributed to this report