GAME NOTES: The top team in the Mountain West Conference gets back to work on Tuesday, as the Wyoming Cowboys confront the Utah State Aggies at the Dee Glen Smith Spectrum.

After playing to three overtimes against Fresno State 10 days ago, the Cowboys had a full week to rest up for their meeting versus New Mexico over the weekend. The hometown fans in Laramie were treated to an overtime contest of their own on Saturday, but this time the Cowboys were able to pull it out, a 63-62 victory, after only an additional five minutes of action. The win was the second in a row and the ninth in the last 10 decisions overall.

In front of the largest crowd at Arena-Auditorium in a decade, Wyoming moved to 6-1 in conference play, which has the program all alone in first place entering the week.

Meanwhile, the Aggies also went to overtime on Saturday night, but in their case the outcome was not so favorable. Pitted against UNLV at the Thomas & Mack Center, Utah State appeared poised to capture a third straight win, but the team came up short in a 79-77 final, dropping them to 4-3 in league play as a result.

As far as the all-time series is concerned, the Pokes hold a 45-24 advantage over USU dating back to 1926. However, the most recent meeting last March saw the Aggies defend their home floor in a 65-54 decision.

Larry Nance Jr. played the hero for the Cowboys over the weekend as he registered a dunk in the final seconds of overtime to bring home the win for Wyoming in Laramie. Nance Jr. finished with 23 points, thanks to 11-of-13 shooting at the free-throw line, adding six rebounds and four assists in order to offset his five turnovers. Josh Adams tacked on 20 points as he made all seven of his shots at the charity stripe, the team finishing 19-of-22 to help overcome 39.1 percent shooting from the field.

Converting 77.9 percent of his opportunities at the line and 56.9 percent from the field over the course of 20 starts, Nance Jr. paces the program with 16.6 ppg and is also first on the glass with 7.0 rpg. Adams puts in another 11.9 ppg and has handed out a team-high 74 assists. The Cowboys are producing only 63.8 ppg, but really it is the defense that claims the spotlight as it limits foes to only 53.7 ppg.

In a game that featured six ties and eight lead changes, the Aggies found themselves on the wrong side of the latter as they fell to UNLV on the road Saturday night. Utah State won the battle of the boards, 42-33, and shot 7- of-17 from 3-point range, but converted just 18-of-29 at the free-throw line and forced a mere four turnovers by the Runnin' Rebels. Before fouling out, David Collette scored 24 points for the visitors, followed by Darius Perkins with 19 points. Jalen Moore logged a double-double with 12 points and a game- high 14 boards, while JoJo McGlaston came up a point shy of his own double- double as he dropped 10 points off the bench.

Playing more than 36 minutes per game against league opponents, Moore is putting up 16.7 ppg and clearing 7.4 rpg to pace the Aggies in both categories. Collette, who is shooting 56.2 percent from the floor overall on the season but just 51.5 percent in conference tilts, pitches in with another 10.6 ppg, a drop of 2.5 ppg from his overall number. As a team, the Aggies are also producing less in league play, but at the same time the group is holding MWC opponents to just 59.0 ppg.

Both of these teams are defensive-minded and are coming off overtime affairs, but even though Wyoming is on the road for this one, the talent that the Cowboys put on the floor should be more than enough to again put a tally in the win column.