LARAMIE — Wyoming shot 63 percent in the first half and buried eight 3-pointers before halftime Tuesday night, rolling past UNLV 98-66 inside the Arena-Auditorium for its largest win against a conference opponent in more than two decades.
The victory marked Wyoming’s biggest conference margin since a 101-66 win over San Diego State on Feb. 3, 2001. The Cowboys improved to 11-4 overall, 2-2 in Mountain West play and 9-1 at home this season.
“I will say this, the response of this team is impressive,” Wyoming head coach Sundance Wicks said. “We have to be scrappy, we have to be tougher and we have to fight. Everyone in this league has a heavy hand and today and we delivered a punch. I like the desperate energy and the communication we had in the huddles and proud of the effort tonight.”
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Wyoming finished the game shooting 55 percent from the field and held UNLV to 38 percent. The Cowboys made nine 3-pointers and shot 43 percent from beyond the arc, dominated the boards 43-29 and outscored the Runnin’ Rebels 46-26 in the paint.
Leland Walker led Wyoming, tying a season high with 28 points for his third 20-point game of the season. He went 9 of 15 from the field. Damarion Dennis added 12 points for his sixth double-figure scoring game, while Khaden Bennett scored 13 points with seven rebounds and three assists and finished plus-34. Nasir (Naz) Meyer also reached double figures with 10 points and led the Cowboys with eight rebounds.
Wyoming raced to a 10-2 start as Walker scored five early points and UNLV managed just one basket in the opening five-plus minutes. A corner 3-pointer by Dennis and an acrobatic layup from Walker pushed the lead to 15-4 with 14 minutes left in the first half.
The Cowboys extended the run to 20-5 with five straight field goals, then took a 25-8 lead midway through the half. Walker’s 3-pointer capped an 8-0 run for a 33-12 advantage before UNLV answered with an 8-0 spurt of its own.
Wyoming responded again, stretching the lead to 38-20 and then closing the half on a 13-2 run to take a 48-26 lead into the break. The Cowboys shot 63 percent in the first half, their best opening-half mark of the season.
Walker opened the second half with a 3-pointer, and Wyoming maintained a 21-point cushion five minutes in before rebuilding the lead behind baskets from Gavin Gores and Adam Harakow. The Cowboys pushed the margin to 30 points midway through the half and continued to apply pressure the rest of the way.
Walker’s scoop layup made it 91-59 with five minutes remaining, and Wyoming closed out the 98-66 win, its largest victory over UNLV since 1967.
Kimani Hamilton led UNLV with 19 points, while Tyrin Jones added 16 points and eight rebounds.
Wyoming heads back on the road this weekend to face Nevada in an 8 p.m. MT game on the Mountain West Network.
