Two nights, two upsets – Wyoming drops Nevada from MWC play

LAS VEGAS (AP) — Freshman Kwane Marble II scored a career-high 24 points and 11th-seeded Wyoming stunned No. 3 Nevada 74-71 in a Mountain West Conference Tournament quarterfinal game Thursday night.

The Cowboys (9-23) face second seed Utah State Friday night. Wyoming beat sixth seed Colorado State 80-74 on Wednesday to become the first No. 11 seed in MWC history to win a conference tournament game. Wyoming closed the regular season having lost six of its last seven.

Nisre Zouzoua made a pair of foul shots with 9:58 left to give Nevada a 56-46 lead. The Cowboys then went on a 16-5 run and took the lead for good when Hunter Thompson buried a 3-pointer with 4:39 left to make it 62-61.

Marble followed with a layup, a jump shot, a pair of free throws and another layup for a 70-66 advantage with 69 seconds to go. Trevon Taylor made four free throws for Wyoming sandwiched between a Lindsey Drew layup for the Wolfpack (19-12) and the lead was 74-71. Playing for the tie, Kane Milling’s 3-pointer wasn’t close as the horn sounded.

Thompson scored 17 for Wyoming, Jake Hendricks scored 12 and Hunter Maldonado collected 12 rebounds.

Drew led Nevada with 19 points, Jalen Harris scored 17, Jazz Johnson 15 and Zouzoua 11.