No. 11 UNLV loses at Wyoming, 68-66

"I feel like that’s on me," Marshall said. "I had an opportunity to make some things happen, but I just didn’t come through."

Marshall missed an off-balance layup with 4.7 seconds left, and Mike Moser missed a jumper from just inside the 3-point line with two seconds to go as the 11th-ranked Rebels fell to Wyoming 68-66 on Saturday.

Billed by many nationally as the best team in the West, UNLV was at its worst on the road. A team that runs wild on its home floor once again got tamed away from it.

The Rebels (21-4, 5-2) were knocked out of a tie for first in the Mountain West Conference, and they watched fans storm the Arena-Auditorium court in celebration after the Cowboys (18-5, 4-3) stopped a 19-game losing streak against ranked opponents.

"We didn’t have our best stuff," coach Dave Rice said, and that has become UNLV’s theme on the road.

The Rebels played with fire but escaped unharmed in recent overtime wins at Air Force and Boise State. This time, the bottom line was a bitter setback that puts their league regular-season title plans on hold at the halfway point.

Junior forward Quintrell Thomas, who came off the bench to post a season-high 15 points, dunked to pull UNLV within two points with 52 seconds left, but that was the last score of the game.

Luke Martinez missed a 3-pointer with 25 seconds left, and the Cowboys dug in defensively as Rice decided against using a timeout.

"As good as Wyoming is with its set defense, I thought it was better for us to go ahead," Rice said. "No second-guessing on that."

With the clock down to eight seconds, the left-handed Marshall drove the left side of the lane and drew contact as he jumped.

Was he fouled? "Yeah. Definitely," Moser said.

Marshall’s shot bounced off the rim, and Thomas rebounded and threw the ball to Moser in the right corner. His shot was off at the buzzer.

"I kind of rushed it," Moser said. "I didn’t really know how much time was on the clock."

Marshall, who had 12 points and six rebounds, shrugged off a question about possibly being fouled on his layup attempt, saying, "That’s not for me to decide. I’ve got to make that no matter what."

The Rebels put themselves at the mercy of an official’s whistle at the end by playing with little emotion and focus for long stretches of the first 39 minutes. They trailed 42-36 after allowing Wyoming center Adam Waddell to scrap for an offensive rebound and score before the halftime buzzer.

Marshall’s jumper in the lane put UNLV on top 55-54 with 9:28 to go, but it never led again. Martinez made a 3-pointer that started to swing the momentum in the Cowboys’ favor.

Not only did the Rebels misfire on 11 of 14 3-pointers, they failed to pay attention to detail on the defensive end and seemed to fall asleep on routine plays. On an inbounds pass under the basket, Leonard Washington was left wide open for a layup that gave Wyoming a 62-55 lead with 6:45 remaining.

JayDee Luster’s 3 with 5:44 left was the Cowboys’ final field goal, giving them a 67-59 lead, but that margin proved to be just enough.

Wyoming coach Larry Shyatt put four players at half court on his team’s free throws to rest his players and guard against UNLV’s transition attack. The Rebels had 34 points in the paint but zero on the fast break.

"We played that slow ball that we’re not accustomed to, and that was tough," said Moser, who finished with 11 points and 10 rebounds. But he also had five turnovers and shot two airball 3s in the first half.

"I couldn’t make a shot. I don’t know what was going on," Moser said.

Oscar Bellfield scored 10 of his 12 points in the first half. Senior forward Chace Stanback, UNLV’s second-leading scorer at 14.2 points per game, missed his only two field-goal attempts and had two points.

Washington and Francisco Cruz scored 16 apiece for the Cowboys. Martinez had 15 on five 3-pointers.

"We’re a tired basketball team," said Rice, who made no excuses for snow-related travel issues that delayed the Rebels’ arrival until 12:30 a.m. Saturday.

UNLV gets a break before hosting first-place San Diego State on Saturday, and an upset Marshall tried to find another positive.

"It’s disappointing," he said, "but better now than in March."

Contact reporter Matt Youmans at myoumans@reviewjournal.com or 702-387-2907.