Wyoming's Larry Nance Jr. dunks during the second half of a Mountain West Conference men's tournament NCAA college basketball game, Tuesday, March 12, 2013, in Las Vegas. Wyoming won 85-81. (AP Photo/Julie Jacobson)
LAS VEGAS — Larry Nance Jr. scored 19 points and Leonard Washington scored 18 to lead Wyoming to an 85-81 win over Nevada to open the Mountain West Conference tournament Tuesday.
Deonte Burton scored 27 points for the No. 9 seed Nevada.
Nance was 9 of 10 from the field for the game and had eight rebounds for the eighth-seeded Cowboys (19-12). Washington was 5 of 8 from the field.
Derrious Gilmore scored 17 points and had eight assists. Josh Adams added 10 points.
Wyoming will play No. 15 New Mexico, the top seed, in the quarterfinals today at 6:30 p.m.
Nevada led 36-32 at halftime. Wyoming shot 57 percent from the field for the game. Nevada shot 47 percent.
Burton was 8 of 18 from the field for the game and had six assists for the Wolf Pack. Malik Story added 20 points, including five 3-pointers. Marqueze Coleman had 14 points, seven rebounds.
NOTES: Nevada finished with a 12-19 record, and coach David Carter has a career record of 74-58 in four seasons ... It was the 11th time that Burton has led the team in scoring, and it was his 10th 20-point game of the season. Burton led the Pack in scoring 18 times this season, and he moved past Armon Johnson into ninth place on the all-time scoring list with 1,459 points ... Story finished with 1,476 points in his career. He leaves Nevada as the leader in 3-point field goals made (253) and 3-pointers attempted (655) ... Marqueze Coleman, a freshman, started for the second straight game. He scored 14 points and pulled down a team-leading seven rebounds ... Four players — Coleman, Burton, Jordan Burris and Devonte Elliott — fouled out of the contest.