Rebels pull past Cowboys

Wyoming-UNLV stats

By Wyoming Sports.org

LAS VEGAS -- Two Achilles Heels gave the Wyoming Cowboys the boot Saturday against UNLV.

The Rebels dominated the offensive boards and took advantage of Wyoming turnovers to run past the Cowboys 83-66 in Mountain West Conference play at the Thomas & Mack Center.

UNLV grabbed 22 offensive rebounds against the bigger Cowboys, turning those boards into 24 second-chance points. The Rebels also forced 18 turnovers and scored 24 points off of those miscues.

“If you turn it over against them, you can’t win," Wyoming coach Heath Schroyer said on his postgame radio show on the Cowboys Sports Network.

At times, the Cowboys played fairy well, leading by as much as six in the first half and trailing by just five with 10 minutes left in the game.

But the offensive boards and mistakes did Wyoming in at the end, as UNLV went on a 22-9 run to pull away.

“They had more energy playing on their toes in the last 10 minutes,” Schroyer said. “Mentally, they wore us down and I am disappointed in that.“

Wink Adams scored 20 points and Rene' Rougeau added 14 points and eight rebounds to help UNLV (14-4, 2-2) snap a two-game Mountain West Conference losing streak. UNLV's Tre’Von Willis added 13 points and Darris Santee had 10.

The Rebels, led by six offensive rebounds from Rougeau, held a 44-33 edge in rebounds.
The Cowboys had the hot early hand from senior guard Sean Ogirri and led 26-20 with seven minutes left in the first half before Adams scored nine consecutive points over the next two minutes to give the Rebels the lead for good.

Ogirri hit 7 of 15 3-pointers in the game to lead the Cowboys, who fell to 1-2 in league play and 12-5 overall. Wyoming has now lost six straight games at the Thomas & Mack and 11 of the last 12 against the Rebels overall.

Tyson Johnson and Afam Muojeke both scored 14 points for the Cowboys. The MWC’s leading scorer, senior Brandon Ewing, had just seven points in the game. Ewing averaged over 19 points a game going into the contest.

“They did a nice job of getting the ball out of Brandon’s hands,” Schroyer said.

The Cowboys will continue on the road, facing an improved TCU team Wednesday in Fort Worth, Texas. The Horned Frogs are 4-1 in league playing, knocking off Air Force 57-54 Saturday night.

“We will try to get one on Wednesday,” Schroyer said. “It’s going to be tough, TCU is playing well at home. We just have to continue to get better, continue to grow.”