Bryce Hamilton
56
UNLV UNLV 18-14,10-8 Mountain West
59
Winner Wyoming UW 25-7,13-5 Mountain West
UNLV UNLV
18-14,10-8 Mountain West
56
Final
59
Wyoming UW
25-7,13-5 Mountain West
Winner
Score By Periods
Team 1 2 F
UNLV UNLV 22 34 56
Wyoming UW 31 28 59

Game Recap: Men's Basketball |

Runnin' Rebels Suffer Heartbreaker In Mountain West Quarterfinals

Hamilton and Williams combined for 42 points in 59-56 defeat to Wyoming Thursday afternoon at the Thomas & Mack Center.

LAS VEGAS (UNLVRebels.com) - The UNLV men's basketball team suffered a heartbreaking 59-56 loss to Wyoming in the Mountain West Tournament's quarterfinals Thursday afternoon at the Thomas & Mack Center,

Bryce Hamilton and Donovan Williams combined to score 42 points with 22 and 20, respectively for fifth-seeded UNLV (18-14).

No. 4 seed Wyoming (25-7) was led by Brendan Wenzel's 12 points, while Graham Ike and Hunter Maldonado had 11 points apiece. Ike also collected 13 rebounds for a double-double.

SLOW START: The Runnin' Rebels started the game shooting just 1 of 13, including 0 of 7 on 3-pointers, and found themselves with a 13-point deficit at 21-8 with 6:30 to play in the first half. UNLV trailed 31-22 at the break.

FOUGHT BACK: UNLV used a 10-0 run to take a 39-38 lead with 11:38 to go. Neither team led by more than four the rest of the way.

BACK AND FORTH: The game featured seven lead changes and three ties. Trailing by a point, UNLV had an opportunity to take the lead late, but Keshon Gilbert missed a 3-point attempt with six seconds to go. Two Wenzel free throws gave Wyoming the three-point victory.

QUOTABLE: "I could not be more proud of these guys. We came out a little stagnant, but never stopped fighting. This group has grown over the last four or five weeks about as much as we could have. The fight , competitiveness and the togetherness that I have seen over the last month is what gave us an opportunity to beat a team that's going to be playing in the NCAA Tournament, and beat a couple of teams over the past month that are going to be playing in the NCAA Tournament. We were in a little bit of a hole, but ended up erasing that by doing what we've been doing the last month and that's just guarding like crazy, rebounding and making plays for each other." - UNLV head coach Kevin Kruger

NOTES:
- UNLV was without starter Victor Iwuakor because of injury.
- David Muoka made his first start of the season.
- Wyoming closed the game by scoring the final seven points, holding UNLV scoreless for the final 2:11.
- Hamilton, who is No. 9 on the all-time UNLV scoring list with 1,773 career points, scored 18 of his points in the second half. He has scored in double figures in 26 straight games, tallying 20 or more over that stretch 17 times and 30+ six times.
- It was UNLV's first loss to Wyoming in Las Vegas in the last 20 meetings.
- It was Wyoming's first win over UNLV in the Mountain West Tournament in five tries.
- The two teams split the season series as UNLV won at home against the Cowboys during the regular season on March 2.
- It was the first time this season that UNLV lost when holding its opponent to less than 60 points (13-1).
- Wyoming out-rebounded UNLV 45-29.
- Wyoming shot 36.5% from the field, including 28.6% on 3-pointers, while UNLV was 35% and 14.3%, respectively.
- UNLV has made at least one 3-pointer in a NCAA-record 1,161 straight games. 



 
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