SEATTLE — Wyoming senior forward Larry Nance Jr. covered his head with a towel to hide the tears, not wanting to talk about the end of his college career. Nance had done everything he could to rally the Cowboys in the second half here Friday, but it wasn’t enough in a 71-54 loss to fifth-seeded Northern Iowa in a second round NCAA Tournament game.
Wyoming coach Larry Shyatt jumped in and took questions directed at his players, giving them a few more minutes to wash away the pain.
“The last one’s always hard unless the streamers come down,” said Shyatt, who was an assistant at Florida for two national championships.
Wyoming, a No. 12 seed, showed its grit, rallying from a 46-25 deficit in the second half to put a scare into the Panthers. Riding a scintillating stretch where Nance scored 12 points, Wyoming charged back, getting as close as 50-43 before UNI reasserted itself.
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Charles Hankerson Jr., buried a 3-pointer from the right wing to bring Wyoming within seven with 10:34 left, plenty of time for Wyoming to really make UNI sweat.
But as happens so often, the team forced to play catch-up finally runs out of gas. Northern Iowa (31-3) kept its composure, got some jump shots to fall from Paul Jesperson and reserve guard Wes Washpun, and methodically wore down the Cowboys.
It took less than six minutes of precision basketball for Northern Iowa to regain control. The Panthers have an entire roster of shooters, and a 3-pointer by 6-foot-9 forward Nate Buss put UNI up 62-48 with 4:51 to go.
Nance Jr. led the Cowboys with 16 points and seven rebounds. Hankerson added 15, all from 3-pointers.
“I told our guys that the most impressive thing for me personally was to be down 21 going on 50, and for them to fight like heck and get back together to cut it to seven,” Shyatt said. “At that point, (the opponent) needs to miss a few. When we did cut it to seven, there was very little rattle in them.”
UNI coach Ben Jacobson said the more he studied Wyoming’s game films the more concerned he became.
“I knew getting ready that Wyoming had a bunch of tough guys,” Jacobson said. “They showed that in the second half.”
Jesperson scored 16 for the Panthers, who placed five scorers in double figures. Seth Tuttle, a 6-8, do-everything forward, produced 14 points and a game-best nine rebounds.
Northern Iowa’s bench outscored the Cowboys’ reserves by a stunning 41-2 margin.
“We’ve got 10 guys that are really capable of helping our team,” Tuttle said. “We had a lot of guys step up for us.”
Until he found his rhythmn in the second half, Nance Jr. seemed preoccupied with Tuttle and couldn’t seem to get started offensively. Wyoming was down by 21 points when Nance Jr. finally slammed down his first field goal, that with 15 minutes to go.
He scored three more quick baskets, including two slam dunks, within a span of three minutes that kick-started a 14-0 run.
“My teammates did a great job of finding me,” Nance Jr., said of the spurt. “I had the easy part.”
Northern Iowa advanced to play fourth-seeded Louisville, a 57-55 winner over No. 13 seed UC Irvine.
For Wyoming, a dream season came to a close. The Cowboys earned their first trip to the NCAA Tournament since 2002 by winning the Mountain West Tournament last week in Las Vegas. But the Cowboys’ magic stayed in Vegas.
Northern Iowa, one of the nation’s best defensive teams, had a lot to do with that by packing the paint and forcing Wyoming to settle for jump shots. Not enough of them fell.
Tom Kensler: tkensler@denverpost.com or
