Salt Lake City – Utah broke a three-game losing streak and withstood a late rally, beating Wyoming 79-70 on Saturday night.
The Utes (13-14, 5-10) were led by sophomore guard Johnnie Bryant’s 17 points.
Senior forward Bryant Markson scored 16 points in his final home game, including 14 in the second half.
Freshman point guard Brandon Ewing scored 25 points for the Cowboys (12-17, 5-10) – even though he didn’t score his first point until 11:46 remained in the game.
Senior center Justin Williams notched a double-double for Wyoming, with 22 points and 10 rebounds.
Leading 27-21 at the half, the Utes went on runs of 13-0 and 8-0 in the second half to pull away. The Utes led by as many as 20 before Wyoming went on an 8-0 run, which included back-to-back Ewing 3-pointers, to cut the Utah advantage to 12 with 3:52 to play.
The Cowboys cut the lead to five with 50 seconds to play, but Utah made enough free throws down the stretch to halt the rally.
BYU 76, NEW MEXICO 68
at Provo, Utah – Jimmy Balderson scored 21 points and Brigham Young reached 20 wins under first-year coach Dave Rose.
The Cougars (20-7, 12-4) closed the game on a 16-6 run and held New Mexico scoreless for a four-minute stretch near the end.
“This is the way games are supposed to be played in March,” said Rose, who was promoted after Steve Cleveland left to coach Fresno State.
The Cougars were almost perfect from the free-throw line in the second half, making 19-of-21 attempts.
BYU, the preseason pick to finish last in the MWC, won its sixth straight and tied Air Force for second in the final league standings. The Cougars will be the third seed in the MWC Tournament in Denver this week because the Falcons won the tiebreaker.
“We went through a lot last year. It feels really good to finish out the year with 20 wins,” Balderson said. “Everyone’s happy. Fans are happy. The town is happy. It’s nice for our team.”
The Marriott Center was full for the Cougars’ final home game, which included a halftime ceremony for the late Kresimir Cosic.
BYU retired Cosic’s No. 11 jersey, honoring the Cougars’ star center of the early 1970s who became a Basketball Hall of Famer.
And the Cougars put on quite a show for the 20,732 fans.
New Mexico (17-12, 8-8), which had won five of seven, made 11-of-21 3-pointers but went just 5-for-12 from the free-throw line.
Jeff Hart led the Lobos, tying his career high with 15 points. Mark Walters was the only other Lobo in double figures, scoring 13.
UNLV 72, TCU 61
at Las Vegas – Wendell White scored a game-high 18 points to lead the Rebels (16-12, 10-6).
Jo’Van Adams added 17 points with four assists, and Ricky Morgan had 16 points and nine assists.
The Rebels played without leading scorer and rebounder Louis Amundson, who is sidelined indefinitely because of a sprained right ankle. The senior forward, a former Monarch High School star, averages 14.7 points and 8.7 rebounds.
Nile Murray led the Horned Frogs (6-24, 2-14) with 16 points.
Chudi Chinweze added 13 points and four rebounds. Judson Stubbs had 11 points and nine rebounds.
