Senior guard Hugh Greenwood kept up his hot streak in Laramie with 23 points (8 of 14 FG, 5 of 8 3-pointers) but did, however, make two costly mistakes at the end of regulation and overtime that doomed the Lobos in a 63-62 loss.
With 10 seconds remaining in the second half and the Lobos leading 54-51, Greenwood fouled Wyoming guard Josh Adams on a 3-point attempt. Adams knocked down all three free throws to tie the game at 54.
“I just don’t think you can get close enough where you let an official make the call,” head coach Craig Neal said. “You can make them make a contested shot, but you know, that’s part of it. We made two crucial mental mistakes that cost us the game that we had won.”
After a Lobo miss with less than five seconds remaining, Wyoming forward Larry Nance Jr. snagged the rebound and had a chance to bury the Lobos in regulation after he saw his 3/4-court shot rattle in-and-out as time expired.
Overtime, much like the entire game, was a back-and-forth battle between two defensive-minded teams. The Lobos struck first with a putback layup by sophomore center Obij Aget with 4:47 remaining in overtime.
Redshirt sophomore forward Devon Williams knocked down a 3-pointer with 1:13 left in overtime to give the Lobos a 62-57 lead, only to see Adams (20 points) answer back on the next possession with a 3-pointer of his own that cut the Lobo lead to just two.
Nance would make one of two free throws the next trip down to cut the lead to one point. He finished with 23 points (6 of 15 FG, 11 of 13 FT), six rebounds and four assists.
On the ensuing inbounds play for the Lobos, Greenwood tried to make a long pass to Sam Logwood to seal the game, but it was stolen by Nance. Wyoming guard Riley Grabau found a wide-open Nance underneath the basket, and he finished with a two-handed dunk with 3.2 seconds remaining.
“All we had to do was get fouled,” Neal said. “We get it to the guy we want to shoot free throws, and for some reason he (Greenwood) didn’t hold it to get fouled with 5 seconds (left).”
After a Lobo timeout, Logwood attempted a baseball-style pass that was deflected but remained alive before the final buzzer went off. Williams shot a contested turn-around 3-point shot from half court as the clock expired, but saw his attempt come up short.
A road split, after a win at UNLV on Wednesday, might seem like an accomplishment in a tough conference like the Mountain West, but Neal was anything but pleased after Saturday’s performance.
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“We’re here to win. We’re here to win championships. We’re not here for splits,” he said. “Happiness isn’t splits, and I’m not happy about it. We played well enough to win that game.”
This was the third straight overtime game between these two teams, with the Lobos winning both times last season. They had previously defeated the Cowboys eight consecutive times.
The Lobos (13-7, 5-3 Mountain West) connected on 45.8 percent (22 of 48 FG, 8 of 17 3FG) of their shots and added a perfect 10-10 from the free throw line. Both teams combined for a remarkable 29-32 from the charity stripe.
The Cowboys (17-3, 6-1 Mountain West) shot an astonishing 15 3-point field goals in the first half. They shot 17 total field goals in the first half alone. Wyoming made five of those attempts and finished the game 8 of 23 (34.8 percent) from behind the 3-point arc.
Kyle Tomasi is a sports reporter for the Daily Lobo. He can be reached at sports@dailylobo.com or on Twitter @KyTo22.
